NEW YORK
The UN Security Council voted Wednesday to continue the UN peacekeeping mission in Cyprus for another six months.
The Council unanimously adopted resolution 2234 and praised the Turkish Cypriot and Greek Cypriot administrations for "the progress achieved so far and the ongoing efforts of the leaders and their negotiators to reach a comprehensive and durable settlement, and encourages the sides to grasp the current opportunity with determination to secure a comprehensive settlement."
Since the collapse of the joint government in 1963, Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots have sought a comprehensive settlement to renew their partnership.
Negotiations between the two sides to settle the decades-long conflict resumed May 15 after a seven-month pause.
One of the longest-running UN peacekeeping missions, the Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus was set up in 1964.
The island has been divided into a Turkish-Cypriot administration in the northern third and a Greek Cypriot one in the southern two-thirds after a military coup by Greece in 1974 was followed by the peace operation of Turkey as a guarantor power in Cyprus.
