S/PV.6908 Security Council

The Security Council will now begin its consideration of the item on its agenda. Members of the Council have before them document S/2013/48, which contains the text of a draft resolution submitted by France, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United States of America. I wish to draw the attention of Council members to document S/2013/7, which contains the report of the Secretary-General on the United Nations Operation in Cyprus. It is my understanding that the Council is ready to proceed to the vote on the draft resolution before it. I should like to inform the Council that the presidency of the Council has met with the representatives of the parties, who have confirmed that they maintain their well-known positions vis-à-vis the item on the Council’s agenda. On the basis of those meetings, with the consent of the members of the Council, the presidency has drawn the conclusion that the Council can proceed to take a decision on the draft resolution before it. If I hear no objection, I shall put the draft resolution to the vote now. There being no objection, it is so decided.

There were 14 votes in favour, none against and one abstention. The draft resolution has been adopted as resolution 2089 (2013). I shall now give the floor to those members of the Council who wish to make statements after the voting.

I should like briefly to share with the Council the reasoning behind our abstention in the voting on resolution 2089 (2013). We would like to express our gratitude to the delegation of the United Kingdom for its leadership and efforts in facilitating the negotiations on the resolution. Azerbaijan fully supports the six-month mandate renewal of the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus. The year 2013 marks the fiftieth since the emergence of the Cyprus problem. A just and lasting political settlement without further delay is the hope and expectation of the international community. Needless to say, finding a solution as soon as possible would be in the interests of both sides and of the entire region. Azerbaijan believes that achieving a settlement of the Cyprus problem within the established United Nations parameters is possible, and we reiterate our full support for the Secretary-General’s efforts to that end. It is clear that a settlement can be attained only through a results-oriented process and continued support to the Secretary-General’s good offices mission. While the resolution had to be a technical roll-over, it nevertheless contains a number of elements that are outdated. In fact, the language of resolution 2089 (2013) in regard to negotiations is repeated from resolution 2058 (2012) without duly reflecting the situation during the six-month reporting period. Thus, calls throughout the text to move towards more intensive negotiations are obsolete, as the substantive talks came to a halt in July 2012. Moreover, the resolution just adopted contains apparent factual inaccuracies, such as the reference in paragraph 5 to the military areas in the north, which are no longer an issue. Futhermore, the resolution ignores a number of concerns raised by the Secretary-General in his January report (S/2013/7). Except for some minor amendments, many of the important issues raised by our delegation based on the aforementioned considerations were not taken into account during the negotiations. For the reasons I have just cited, Azerbaijan decided to abstain in the voting on resolution 2089 (2013).

The Security Council has thus concluded the present stage of its consideration of the item on its agenda.