AKEL on European Parliament draft resolution on Turkey

Statements of Georgos Loucaides, AKEL C.C. Spokesperson

 AKEL C.C. Press Office, 17th February 2016, Nicosia

 

The draft resolution on Turkey, which was presented in the European Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee by the Rapporteur on Turkey’s accession progress Kati Piri, is in essence a working document. Our standard practice as AKEL is the tabling of amendments aiming either to improve the references that do not reflect reality, or the inclusion of elements that would make the final resolution as balanced as possible. This is what AKEL will seek this year as well.

We are currently working on and elaborating amendments which AKEL will table next week so as to complement and stress Turkey’s obligations related to Cyprus. Furthermore, as regards the Cyprus problem, the resolution must specify in a concrete way the call for support of the negotiation procedure by addressing this call entirely to Ankara. That being said, the demands for the lifting of Turkey’s military presence in Cyprus and the implementation of UN resolution 550 on Famagusta are moving in the correct direction.

With regards the proposed opening of chapters, AKEL reiterates our firm long-standing position that Turkey remains a captive of its own policy choices. The opening of chapters above all depends on the fulfillment of the conventional obligations Turkey has undertaken towards the European Union and all its Member States, as the Counter-declaration of September 2005 itself clarifies. Besides this must also be the direction of the final resolution as it will be approved by the plenary of the European Parliament.