S/PV.7014 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/2013/441, which contains the text of a draft resolution submitted by 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/2013/392, 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 13 votes in favour, none against and two abstentions. The draft resolution has been adopted as resolution 2114 (2013). I shall now give the floor to those members of the Council who wish to make statements after the voting.

We thank the United Kingdom for preparing resolution 2114 (2013) on the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) and for steering its delicate negotiating process. Pakistan welcomes the first interaction between the leaders of the two sides in Cyprus in May this year and the prospects of the commencement of the negotiating process later this year. Pakistan supports Cyprus-led and Cyprus-owned negotiations. We hope that both parties will direct their efforts towards a results- oriented process leading to a durable settlement. We support the efforts of the Security Council and the good offices mission. As for the resolution just adopted, we had made a number of suggestions to ensure a fair balance in the draft. Some suggestions were taken on board, and we deeply appreciate that. However, a reference to joint statements, including those of 23 May and July 2008, was deleted. That constrained us to abstain in the voting on the draft resolution. Our abstention is without prejudice to our support for the extension of UNFICYP’s mandate and the early commencement of negotiations. We support the essential objectives of the resolution.

I should like briefly to share with the Council the reasoning behind our abstention in the voting on resolution 2114 (2013). First of all, 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 Secretary- General’s good offices mission and the six-month mandate renewal of the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus. At the same time, similarly to our approach taken with regard to previous resolutions on the issue, both conceptual and some textual considerations again prevented us from voting in favour of the resolution. We believe that achieving a mutually acceptable and comprehensive settlement of the Cyprus problem, within the established United Nations parameters, is possible and within reach. The resolution just adopted urges the sides to resume their substantive negotiations and continue their discussions to reach decisive progress on the core issues, and stresses that the status quo is unsustainable. However, in our view, the resolution does not provide a full and proper update of the situation and does not place the required emphasis on the necessity to agree on a results-oriented process. Furthermore, as a result of the efforts aimed at finding a compromise rather than reflecting the factual situation, certain provisions of the resolution do not accurately describe some of the developments on the ground. This is the case, for example, with regard to paragraph 5 of the resolution, in which it would be essential to welcome not only the efforts to accommodate the Committee on Missing Persons exhumation requirements, but also the actual access granted to that end. For the reasons I have just cited, Azerbaijan decided to abstain in the voting on resolution 2014 (2013).

There are no more names inscribed on the list of speakers. The Security Council has thus concluded the present stage of its consideration of the item on its agenda. I would like to express the sincere appreciation of the delegation of the United States to the members of the Council and to the secretariat of the Council for all the support they have given to us this month. Indeed, it has been a busy month and one in which we rallied to consensus on several important issues within our purview. We could not have done it without the hard work, support and positive contributions of every delegation and the representatives of the Secretariat, as well as the interpreters, translators, meeting services staff and sound engineers. As we end our presidency, I know I speak on behalf of the Council in wishing the delegation of Argentina good luck in the month of August.