AKEL’s Assessment of EP Resolution on Turkey’s Progress Report
Statement of Stavri Kalopsidiotou, member of the C.C. of AKEL and of the AKEL C.C. Cyprus problem Office
AKEL C.C. Press Office, Thursday 11th June 2015, Nicosia
The plenary of the European Parliament proceeded yesterday to the approval of a resolution on Turkey’s Progress Report for 2014.
The Socialists’ insistence on opening a series of negotiating chapters and the initial refusal of the European People’s Party, eventually led to the deletion of explicit negative wordings with an indirect however description of the relevant demand. Refusing to identify ourselves with approaches that impinge on our basic position for Turkey’s accession to the European Union, provided that the candidate country fulfills its contractual obligations and criteria corresponding to the opening of chapters, AKEL abstained.
We underline the positive orientation of the resolution’s references regarding the Cyprus problem. As a result of the persistent work and good cooperation between the Cypriot MEP’s and the Permanent Representation of the Republic of Cyprus, the registering of important demands on the Cyprus problem was made possible. The contribution of the Group of the European United Left-Nordic Green Left, which supported the positions of principle of the Republic of Cyprus, was once again decisive. Turkey is called upon to implement the Ankara Additional Protocol as an important precondition for its accession process. At the same time, Turkey is also called upon to take the necessary steps to normalize its relations with Cyprus, as well as to proceed with the signing and ratification of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea and to refrain from any action against the sovereign rights of Member States of the European Union. Furthermore, the resolution stresses the legitimate right of the Republic of Cyprus to conclude bilateral agreements in relation to its Exclusive Economic Zone.
The amendments that were tabled by AKEL during the examination of the resolution in the relevant committee contributed to the incorporation within the resolution of the most important– taking particularly into account the present conjuncture – reference to the form of the solution of the Cyprus problem, namely of a bi-zonal, bi-communal federal solution with a single sovereignty, a single international personality and a single citizenship. In addition the just demand for the withdrawal of the Turkish troops and the implementation of United Nations resolution 550 on Famagusta were also included in the resolution. At the same time the deletion of the reference implying the establishment of direct trade with the occupied areas was achieved and an appeal was included calling on Turkey to cooperate with the Committee on Missing Persons in Cyprus (CMP) in order to provide access to files/archives and military zones so that the cause of the verification of the fate of the missing persons can proceed. Furthermore, the resolution recalls the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) which call on Turkey to end its violation of the human rights of all Cypriot citizens.
We also point out yesterday’s particularly significant adoption by the plenary of the European Parliament of the amendment tabled by AKEL which denounces the illegal colonization of the occupied areas by Turkey, an action which contradicts the objectives of those EU members who are seeking the disconnection of its European course from the termination of the occupation.
Among the resolution’s weaknesses that did not allow us to vote in favour, inter alia, were the recognition of Turkey’s important status because of its participation in NATO, the call for the participation of the Turkish Foreign Minister at the EU Council of Foreign Ministers, despite the fact that Turkey does not recognize the Republic of Cyprus and the description of Turkey as the most important factor in the development of energy cooperation and the absence of an explicit condemnation of Turkey’s violations in the Exclusive Economic Zone of the Republic of Cyprus.
The current context constitutes an important window of opportunity for the liberation and reunification of our homeland and people on the one hand, but also a real opportunity for Turkey on the other. Therefore, if Turkey is aspiring to join the EU it has the opportunity to provide in the most practical way positive demonstrations of its actions, enabling itself to eradicate the objective obstacles that obstruct quite rightly the path to accession.
