Cyprus is expected to raise the issue of the participation of Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar as an observer in a recent meeting of the Organisation of Turkic States (OTS), during the next meeting of the Foreign Affairs Council of the EU that will be held in Brussels on Monday, a senior EU official said on Friday.
CNA reported that Cyprus has communicated that it will raise this issue under “any other business”, referring to the participation of the Turkish Cypriot leader as a representative of the illegal regime in the Turkish occupied areas of the island to the OTS in the organisation’s summit held in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, on November 6th.
The senior EU official pointed out that the EU considers the participation of the Turkish Cypriot leader in the summit as an observer representing the ‘TRNC’ – and not as the leader of the Turkish Cypriot community – as a mistake. He underlined that there is a process regarding Cyprus, and that if the parameters are changed, that would affect this process.
Shortly after the summit of the OTS, High Representative Josep Borrell had said in a written statement that the EU “rejects the repeated attempts by the Organisation of Turkic States (OTS) to legitimise the Turkish Cypriot secessionist entity” through granting it observer status, and called these attempts “regrettable” and as contradictory to the strong support of several members of the OTC to the principle of territorial integrity, adding that the EU “only recognises the Republic of Cyprus as a subject of international law”.
