The EU on Thursday said it was “not acceptable” that Turkey excluded Cyprus from a recent briefing at the United Nations in New York about the COP31 climate conference.
Cyprus has been divided since 1974, when a Turkish invasion followed a coup in Nicosia backed by Greece’s then-military junta. The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (KKTC), declared in 1983, is recognized only by Ankara.
The internationally recognized Republic of Cyprus, a member of the European Union, controls the island’s majority Greek Cypriot south but is not recognized by Turkey, which will host November’s COP31 conference in the southern city of Antalya.
Cyprus currently holds the rotating presidency of the Council of the EU, a role that requires it to act on behalf of the 27-member bloc.
“We have made it clear that the exclusion of a United Nations member state from the preparation process of the UN COP31 climate conference is not acceptable,” EU spokeswoman Anna-Kaisa Itkonen told reporters in Brussels.
“Turkey has assured us that Cyprus would not be excluded from future preparatory meetings for COP31,” she said, adding the EU was also in contact with the UN on the matter.
© Agence France-Presse