Strasbourg: MEPs Loukas Fourlas (DISY-EPP) and Giorgos Georgiou (AKEL-Left Group) will abstain from next Wednesday's vote in the European Parliament Plenary on the report concerning Turkey. Speaking on Monday with Cypriot journalists who are in Strasbourg for the EP Plenary, Fourlas noted that the European People's Party (EPP) will maintain a positive stance towards the report, clarifying, however, that he himself will abstain.
According to Cyprus News Agency, the EPP MEP pointed out that the EP report on Turkey is the product of a compromise. 'It is not bad, it is much better than previous ones,' he stressed, adding that the report records Turkey's obligations towards Cyprus, Greece, and the European Union. He expressed his belief that the report will be narrowly voted in favor, noting that it includes many positive elements. The report, among other things, calls on Turkey to respect decisions related to the missing persons of Cyprus, condemns Turkey's position on a two-state solution, and denounces Turkey's violations in the buffer zone, stressed Loukas Fourlas.
At the same time, he noted that the reason for his abstention is the constant references in the report that present Turkey as a strategic partner of the European Union. On his part, Georgiou noted that the report records all the violations of the rule of law in Turkey concerning the justice sector and the imposition of a 'covert dictatorship.' The report also records Turkey's provocations in the Eastern Mediterranean at the expense of Greece and Cyprus, its interventions in Syria, as well as its support for Hamas, he added.
Georgiou said that although the report zeroes out Turkey's chances of joining the EU, it nevertheless characterises Turkey as an important strategic partner because it has the second largest army in NATO and is located in a region with geopolitical upheavals. In this context, he explained, Turkey receives visas for everyone except truck drivers, while discussions have progressed on upgrading the EU's customs union with Turkey.
For all these reasons, he continued, 'we as the Left will abstain.' The report does include positive elements for Cyprus, however, through the special relationship, Turkey will only take but not give, he stressed. Cyprus has been divided since 1974, when Turkey invaded and occupied its northern third. Repeated rounds of UN-led peace talks have so far failed to yield results. The latest round of negotiations, in July 2017 at the Swiss resort of Crans-Montana ended inconclusively.