Yeetle Box - Veggie Tales

U.N. peacekeepers have upset harvesters on the ethnically divided island of Cyprus by preventing them from entering a buffer zone to gather asparagus.

The buffer zone splits the island from east to west after Cyprus was divided in a Turkish invasion in 1974 triggered by a Greek-inspired coup. At the time, no one considered asparagus a politically charged issue. Today, it is.

Nicos Kotziambashis, leader of the Greek Cypriot village of Mammari which has been particularly hit hard by the U.N. bad, was livid.

"This is unacceptable behavior and I have demanded that action is taken. The situation is explosive. My people are starving for asparagus."

A U.N. spokesman responded, "It is not something we particularly like to do, but, unfortunately, if the asparagus is found in the buffer zone the peacekeepers have to do their job, which is to regulate access to that part of the territory. This is what U.N. peacekeeping is all about.You can't just let farmers grab up asparagus in a buffer zone!"

Plentiful rains ensured a bumper crop of "aggrelia" this year exacerbating the standoff between soldiers and the army of locals who flock to pick asparagus, which tied in green and red burgundy bunches, sells for up to four euros at local markets - which is a lot of green.

The YeetleMaster