The Turkish hosts of this year’s United Nations climate conference have blocked Cyprus from preparatory briefings and are refusing bilateral meeting requests sent by Nicosia on behalf of the European Union, five diplomats and officials told POLITICO.
Cyprus currently holds the rotating presidency of the Council of the EU, meaning it acts as a neutral representative of the entire 27-country bloc. Its exclusion has therefore turned into a diplomatic headache for Brussels in the run-up to this year’s U.N. climate talks, known as COP31, in the Turkish resort city Antalya.
Although the country has been divided since 1974, when Turkey invaded in response to a Greece-backed coup, the Nicosia-based Republic of Cyprus is internationally recognized as the island’s only government.
Turkey, however, doesn’t recognize the Republic of Cyprus and maintains no diplomatic relations with the EU member country. Instead, it recognizes as independent the breakaway Turkish Cypriot north of the island, the only government in the world to do so.
As a result the Turkish government didn’t invite Cyprus to several informal preparatory meetings this year, four European diplomats and one EU official said. They were granted anonymity as they weren’t authorized to speak on the record.
The diplomats highlighted a March incident in New York, in which the Turkish presidency didn’t invite Cyprus to a COP31 briefing at U.N. headquarters and then objected when the Cypriots showed up with the EU delegation. The incident, which was reported in local media last month, was not isolated, three of the diplomats said.
The diplomats, as well as Cyprus, say Turkey’s exclusion of Nicosia is not the behavior expected of hosts of U.N. events, which are supposed to include all U.N. members.
“They are doing informal meetings in the framework of COP31 for which we haven’t received any invitation,” a Cypriot official said.
“It is unacceptable as it is not in line with their status as host country of COP31. They need to invite all U.N. member states, including the Republic of Cyprus that also has a coordination role as presidency of the Council of the EU,” they added.
The European diplomats echoed that sentiment. “It’s not mindful of the custodianship of the U.N. process,” one said.
No RSVPs
Following the incident in March, the European Commission expressed its displeasure to Ankara, the EU official said. Two of the diplomats said that EU climate chief Wopke Hoekstra had brought up the issue with Turkish officials last month.
But Turkey has also been ignoring or rejecting all requests for bilateral meetings with the EU sent by Cyprus, acting in its capacity as the Council presidency.
“Turkey doesn’t have any contacts with [Cyprus] and declined all bilats,” one diplomat said, referring to bilateral talks between Turkey and the EU.
Cyprus was present at two high-profile climate meetings in Berlin and Copenhagen over the past month, though those were hosted by Germany and Denmark.
There is no sign so far that the country will have trouble participating in formal U.N. meetings related to COP31 or the Antalya summit in November.
Nevertheless, two of the diplomats expressed relief that Ireland will hold the EU presidency during COP31 itself. Nicosia hands over the baton to Dublin in July.
The Turkish COP31 presidency did not respond to a request for comment. Following the EU’s criticism in March, Cypriot media reported that Turkish officials had defended their attitude toward Cyprus, saying that the meeting “was not mandated by the U.N. and therefore it was at the discretion of the organiser to issue invitations.”
Turkey is holding this year’s climate summit in cooperation with Australia, which will run the negotiations while Ankara acts as formal host and president of COP31. The diplomats and officials gave no indication that Canberra was involved in excluding Cyprus.
In Copenhagen last week, Australian Climate Minister Chris Bowen insisted that he and his Turkish counterpart “share a commitment that COP31 will be transparent, inclusive and collaborative.”
Source: Politico
Also read: Informal EU foreign ministers’ meeting begins in Limassol
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