No to the upgrading of the Customs Union – Freeze Turkey’s negotiations to exert pressure
Statements by AKEL MEP Neoklis Sylikiotis
13th September 2017
“We are calling on the EU to put pressure on Turkey into implementing all its contractual obligations, to end the violation of human rights in the country itself, to return to the table of the talks and the efforts to solve the Kurdish issue, but also to contribute in a constructive manner to the solution of the Cyprus problem. The EU’s only means of exerting pressure on Turkey to implement the above is to freeze the accession negotiations until Turkey has complied with its obligations, a position which the European Parliament approved by an overwhelming majority in the Resolution of the last plenary resolution in July, and not through other scenarios for a special upgraded relationship”. This is what AKEL’s MEP, Neoklis Sylikiotis stressed during the plenary session of the European Parliament, in the presence of the Commissioner for European Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations Johannes Hahn in the debate on the EU’s relations with Turkey.
Speaking on behalf of the Confederal Group of the European United Left-Nordic Green Left, N. Sylikiotis stressed that Turkey is continuing to violate the human rights and fundamental freedoms of its people, its persecution of the Kurds and the silencing of journalists. Furthermore the AKEL MEP underlined that Turkey is still illegally occupying with the force of arms a member state of the EU, namely Cyprus. He also stressed that it is unacceptable that there are calls for an upgrading of the customs union when Turkey has still not fulfilled its obligations stemming from the current agreement towards the EU as a whole, refusing to recognize the Republic of Cyprus.
