Veto or Delay?
The importance of words and how a single word can create and impact a narrative.
Authors: Deniz M. Dirisu, Andreas Cosma (OCCRP Journalist), Ata Ahmet Kökçü (OFU CIDER)
Edited by: Kim Schouwenaar, Emma Urbanova
Key Findings
Russia was identified as the cause of the delay in the condemnation of the UNSC after a conflict between the Turkish Cypriot Security Forces and the UN peacekeepers at the construction site of the proposed Pile-Yiğitler road.
This was incorrectly reported as a veto of the condemnation in defense of the TRNC.
Pro-Russian and anti-western online accounts soon began spreading this news and using it as a means to promote the benefits of a multipolar world.
The situation could be part of a larger and more complicated scenario involving potential diplomatic relations between Russia and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.
Introduction
On August 18, 2023, what commenced as a confrontation between the Turkish Cypriot Security Force and UN peacekeepers over the proposed Pile-Yiğitler road transformed into a study of the mechanisms through which misinformation permeates and shapes narratives. The confrontation between Turkish Cypriots and United Nations peacekeepers began when the UN force blocked Turkish Cypriot construction efforts of a road near the village of Pyla/Pile, which stretched through the UN buffer zone, also known as the Green Line. The confrontation became physical when bulldozers picked up UN vehicles and threw them across the landscape. Subsequently, Turkish Cypriots and UN peacekeepers engaged in physical attacks, which resulted in injuries on both sides. Though not the main concern of this analysis, theRepublic of Cyprus (RoC) – Greek Cypriot administration of Cyprus – has also built roads into the same bicommunal village in the past. On August 21, three days after the conflict, the United Nations Security Council issued a statement in which the Security Council unanimously
“expressed serious concern at the launch of unauthorized construction work by the Turkish Cypriot side inside the United Nations buffer zone near Pyla/Pile. The members of the Security Council stressed that this action runs contrary to Security Council resolutions and constitutes a violation of the status quo in the United Nations buffer zone.”
The statement above came three days after the immediate emergency meeting the UNSC had on August 19 in response to the events on August 18 at the Pile-Yiğitler construction site. Therefore, many rightfully asked why there was a delay in issuing a statement condemning the incident. As the UNSC is made up of large superpowers with competing interests, was the holdout one of them?
In this study, we’ve collected and analyzed evidence to reveal that Russia was the holdout, how the misinformation about this case spread, what links those outlets back to Russia and how it served Russian new geopolitical objectives.
This led some outlets to incorrectly report that Russia had vetoed the UNSC condemnation in defense of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) and Turkey against the Western states in the UNSC.
The Russian Veto?
To find out how the factual delay transformed into a “veto”, we monitored and analyzed the media coverage around the situation. Our findings show that most reports claiming that Russia had vetoed or would veto the UNSC condemnation came from Greek and Turkish language outlets, most of them small or medium-sized online publications.
But they had some more significant similarities, other than just scope and country of origin. Most of them often publish simple mistakes, fail to cite credible sources, if any, don’t credit their authors and editors while giving bylines to authors with political agenda. Here are some of the most prominent examples.
Most of the reports claiming that Russia had vetoed or would veto the UNSC condemnation came from Greek and Turkish language outlets, most of them small or medium-sized online publications. However, national and international legacy media did not report on this or pick up on the coverage on these initial claims and neither did several international online outlets and X/Twitter accounts. Although the overall bias and factual reporting of these news outlets does vary, they have been known to lack proper editorial and fact checking processes. Moreover, they seem to value timeliness and quantity of publication over quality of the article and use of factual evidence. This is reflected in several factors, such as a general lack of authors, simple grammatical and factual mistakes, biased language, and lack of crediting and accurate list of sources.
Several Greek and international online publications cited an article from the online blog Hellas Journal as their source on these claims, which was published in Greek on August 19. The outlet covers Greek, Cypriot, and international developments as well as opinion pieces. For its reporting on the alleged Russian veto, Hellas Journal’s coverage was written by its manager and frequent contributor Michalis Ignatiou.
In addition to his articles for the blog, Ignatiou is also the Washington correspondent for Cypriot Omega TV. Ignatiou’s employer, Omega, was in its previous form as ‘Ο Λογος’ partially owned by the Greek Orthodox Church in Cyprus. They now maintain quite a conservative nationalist line in their coverage, particularly related to Cyprus–Turkey relations and the Cyprus problem, which is the ongoing conflict between the Greek Cypriot community in the south of Cyprus and the Turkish Cypriot community in the north. Ignatiou has also written several books, many of which focus on declassified US government documents and suggestions of US and CIA interference in Cypriot and Greek politics.
Ignatiou frequently cites anonymous sources close to the US State Department and the UN as part of his coverage and inaccurate statements, which was even noted in a critical X/Twitter post by then US Ambassador to Cyprus John M. Koenig in November 2014. The post states “Morning, Michael. Do you have any real sources in DC? U never name any & U get so much wrong. Just askin’”, to which Ignatiou replied, “Good morning Mr. Ambassador. Smile… It’s Sunday today…”.
Following this, several Turkish publications instantly started to report that Russia had vetoed the UNSC condemnation. This began on August 19, around the same time the Greek media had released their coverage on the topic, and the articles were published without any credible sources.
“Russia vetoes UN condemnation resolution seeking to intimidate TRNC” (translated title of article)
Moreover, some of these publications do not even mention an author or editor on the page of the article. In some cases, this information could not be found on the website at all.
Taking a deeper dive into some of the online Turkish websites reveals their connection and ownership/control by Turkish media management company Yeni Medya Elektronik. The overall control of these websites by Yeni Medya would explain the anonymity of the authors and editors for each publication. This signals it was a single author/editor (or one supervisor of several authors/editors) in Yeni Medya Elektronik who could have written or approved the articles.
A larger concern is that the larger and better-known news outlets such as GZT reported similar information by calling it a veto and not a delay, which is a misinformed angle.
On the other hand, the Ulusal Kanal Haber exaggerated the situation a little and said: "Greeks and Greeks went mad! Russia vetoed the UN to protect the TRNC!"
So the story where Russia allegedly had a “veto" initially came from a number of medium-sized Greek and Turkish outlets that aren’t known for high journalism standards and at the same time demonstrate characteristics of biased, politicized, polarizing publications with connections to certain groups of interest in the region.
Playing into Russia’s Hand
After the initial wave of publications, they were spread further by another group of outlets. As we looked deeper into those who were citing such publications rather than producing their own content on the matter, we saw a pattern.
Amongst those who re-published the misinformation many were pro-Russian, multipolar world supportive, and anti-Western online accounts.
Many pro-Russian, multipolar world supportive, and anti-Western online accounts began spreading the “news” on social media about the alleged veto of the statement with some even referring to it as a veto of a resolution. Below are examples of two social media accounts sharing such information.
In August 2023, Prof. Dr. Hasan Ünal, a professor of international relations/Turkish Foreign Policy, reacted to the matter in a post on his X/Twitter account. He claimed that Russia’s veto of the proposed statement by the US, the UK, and France to condemn Turkey in the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) was an indicator of the benefits of multipolarity . This post is one of many where he supports and glorifies the multipolar world theory as well as vehemently supporting Russia, particularly when it comes to any matters related to the West or the West’s direct or indirect involvement in regional issues.
RUSEN, the Ankara Institute of Russian Studies, which is a center for Russian studies in the capital of Turkey, has been observed to channel Russian disinformation and propaganda many times, especially in matters relating to Ukraine and any matter that impacts their host country Turkey. In relation to the events discussed above, the center made a X/Twitter post stating:
“The Russian Federation vetoed the UN Security Council resolution condemning the TRNC.”
The post not only falsely alleges the veto, but it also reports that a resolution was vetoed, deviating even further away from what is considered a statement and what is a resolution in these circumstances. Whether this was confusion or deliberate is undetermined, however, a research center should know the difference between a statement and a resolution. If this was a mistake, the organization should have immediately corrected it.
Russian Government on the Issue
Finally, the Russian Foreign Ministry itself issued a statement on August 21, the day of the publication of the UNSC condemnation. In response to a request to comment on the reports that Russia allegedly prevented the UNSC from releasing a condemnation statement, Maria Zakharova, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation spokesperson, replied:
“When it comes to serious issues like the sensitive matter of the Cypriot settlement, we do not see any point in focusing on who did something earlier or later. It is not a race or a competition. At the same time, we would like to state the following on the nature of the recent events in the UN Buffer Zone in Cyprus.”
The Russian Foreign Ministry speaker tries to avoid the question and steer the conversation in another direction in a very ambiguous fashion. This statement indicates that Russia delayed the condemnation statement instead of vetoing a resolution or statement, which are two different things.
A Likely Explanation
This case gains prominence when we analyse the root cause behind it. The first question to ask would be, what happened in the first place? The second important thing to understand is, why did a group of politically afiliated media reported and shared misinformation?
We’ve analysed a variety of commentary on the matter, and pointed out this explanation for the delay.
One explanation for the delay in the condemnation and the subsequent false reporting that it was vetoed can be found in an article (dated August 28, 2023) by a retired Turkish Diplomat, Selim Kuneralp. In this article, he states:
“Russia’s request for a deadline was greeted with shouts of joy in Turkey and interpreted as a veto. Russian and Putin lovers expressed their gratitude.”
He further states:
“Russia then approved the statement when the deadline had expired and the text was unanimously adopted and published on 21 August.”
Therefore, it is likely that there was a delay in the condemnation statement of the UNSC. Moreover, statements from the Russian Foreign Ministry, comments from Selim Kuneralp, and the fact that, in the end, the condemnation was voted on unanimously in the UNSC mean that the initial condemnation draft was not vetoed but merely delayed by the Russian. Although only small, this is a very significant difference in wording. This brings us to our next question: Why would Russia not outright deny the claims it delayed or vetoed and play into the intrigue of the narrative?
Part of a Larger Narrative?
Seemingly insignificant when taken out of context, this case, however, falls into a wider picture. Russia has long had its interests in the region but the most recent geopolitical developments pose a threat to the status quo. Hence, Kremlin is likely to step in and up the game when it can.
Although it has declined since the invasion of Ukraine, Russia traditionally had good relations with Cyprus due to the common Orthodox heritage as well as the fact that Cyprus was a haven for Russian money laundering, tax evasion, and sanctions evasion. EU sanctions and increased pressure on Cyprus by the EU and the US to counter Russian sanctions evasion have driven a Cypriot shift towards the West in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
A shift in Russia’s support relating to the Cyprus problem could be a sign of a developing symbiotic relationship between Turkey and Russia against the West, particularly in the Mediterranean. The yearly renewal of the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) mandate, which every member of the UNSC needs to vote on, further assists Russia in holding the Mandate hostage due to its veto by alleging that one side, Turkey and Turkish Cypriots, is unhappy with it. Maintaining a position of “playing both sides” allows Russia to further delay the possibility of a united Cyprus, which could be much more embedded in the West’s sphere of influence. Thus, this would reduce Russia’s ability to influence the Greek Cypriot community.
Increased Russian Interest in the North of the Island
Russia’s current intentions in the area are most likely dictated by the most recent developments in Europe.
Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the subsequent imposition of sanctions by the US and the EU, a large number of Russians have migrated to Cyprus, specifically to the Turkish Cypriot TRNC. This has resulted in Russians becoming one of the largest, if not the largest, ethnic minorities in TRNC. This in turn has led Russia to open an office in Lefkosa to provide consular services to its citizens.
It must be mentioned that the Russian office is not the only consular office in the North because the UK and EU also maintain such offices. However, the timing and presentation of the opening of the Russian consulate could signal that Russia is trying to send a message about its changing stance on the Cyprus problem in response to the West and EU.
It is particularly interesting when this is considered alongside other Russia-related developments in the North of the island, such as the news that “Ersin Tatar, leader of the Turkish Cypriots, asked Russian President Vladimir Putin to consider establishing direct diplomatic relations between Russia and the self-proclaimed Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus”.
Maria Zakharova answered several questions related to Cyprus from media outlets and described claims in the media about the start of flights from Russia to the TRNC as “fantasy”. “We are committed to UN Security Council resolutions 541 and 550 of 1984,” she said. Despite this, Marina Kocadal, head of the Northern Cyprus Russian Speakers Solidarity Association, stated that “they requested direct flights between Russia and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), adding that this would have a more positive impact than expected.” Moreover, numerous property and real estate agencies and companies have mentioned and advertised this on their websites to attract Russian speaking customers to their businesses.
Furthermore, the language the Russian foreign minister used in a statement February 2022 concerning the Cyprus problem is interesting. Of particular interest is his direct use of the term Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus and how he drew an analogy between the 1974 Turkish Intervention/Invasion of Cyprus and the Russian invasion of Ukraine. This apparent warmer approach was praised by the President of the TRNC in a statement given to Turkish media.
All this points out that Russia has been raising the stakes in the region using diversity of means, including diplomacy and information. This may signify Russia’s growing interests in the eastern Mediterranean as well as indicate a gradual coalescing of interests between Russia and Turkey.
Conclusion
Based on our analysis of a variety of publications and commentary surrounding the delay in the condemnation of the UNSC after a confrontation between the Turkish Cypriot Security Forces and the UN peacekeepers at the construction site of the proposed Pile-Yiğitler road, we’ve established the most probable course of events.
First, Russia caused the delay of the condemnation. Then, a number of medium-sized Turkish and Greek media misreported it as a “Russian veto”, magnifying Russia’s influence on the case. This was followed by a wider net of commentary and social media buzz circulating the initialmisinformation and increasing the reach. Finally, Russia itself held back from denying the misinformation and gaining dividends from the intrigue.
We have also analysed possible reasons for this misinformation to have appeared and been recirculated. As we studied the case further, we found evidence that Russia is most likely to raise the stakes in the region due to the ongoing Western sanctions pressure because of its aggression against Ukraine.
A small trick with replacing one word, turning “a delay” into a “veto” only looks insignificant when taken out of context. This study proves that words have geopolitical consequences.
Deniz M. Dirisu
Deniz M. Dirisu, the founder and general director of OSINT FOR UKRAINE, is an international criminal law specialist and OSINT investigator, with a proven track record in ICL investigations and investigative journalism. Experienced in building and leading diverse teams across borders, Deniz M Dirisu is active within the realm of international justice and OSINT.
Ata Ahmet Kökçü
Ata Ahmet Kökçü specialises in OSINT and investigative journalism, covering a broad spectrum of topics like politics, social issues, cybersecurity, conflict zones, defense systems, organized crime and other.
