Statement by the President of the House, Mr Yiannakis Omirou,
on sending a protest letter to the Asian Parliamentary Assembly President
I sent a letter of protest yesterday to the President of the Asian Parliamentary Assembly, Mr Syed Nayyer Hussain Bokhari, asking him to submit a recent incident before the Assembly and to make representations towards the Turkish authorities for their unacceptable and provocative action to put obstacles in the participation of the Cypriot parliamentary delegation in a session of a committee of the Assembly.
More specifically, a two-party delegation of the House of Representatives, comprising the MPs Mr Nicos Tornaritis and Mrs Stella Mishiaouli-Demetriou, which was supposed to travel to Ankara for a Meeting of the Standing Committee on Political Affairs of the Asian Parliamentary Assembly, on 14 and 15 May 2014, had to cancel its participation at the last minute due to the Turkish authorities’ refusal of a request by the House of Representatives, something in which the Secretariat of the Asian Parliamentary Assembly intervened, for its members to be granted visas upon their arrival to Turkey.
As known, Turkey has introduced a new system, since mid-April 2014, for the issuing of entry visas, based on which those interested must apply online, beforehand, to the Turkish authorities. In the new system’s online catalogue of countries Cyprus is not listed as Republic of Cyprus but appears under the unacceptable title of “Greek Cypriot Administration of Southern Cyprus”.
At the same time, there is a reference to the pseudostate as “Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus”. It becomes evident that the House of Representatives, as well as any citizen of the Republic of Cyprus, cannot possibly apply to Turkey for entry visas under these conditions, which are not only illegal and unacceptable but also provocative.
In a recent incident towards the end of April, regarding a Cypriot delegation which was to participate in a meeting of a Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean, in Antalya, following deliberations between the House of Representatives and the Secretariat of that Assembly, the Turkish authorities acquiesced and the preconditions set for the issuing of visas were removed.
However, unfortunately, in the case of the meeting in Ankara, the Turkish authorities did not acquiesce and, consequently, besides the cancellation of our participation, I sent the aforementioned letter of protest to the President of the Asian Parliamentary Assembly, noting that the particular action of the Turkish authorities violates both international law and the principles that the members of the Asian Parliamentary Assembly and the Assembly itself, represent. I also pointed out, inter alia, that during a period of talks for the resolution of the Cyprus problem, these actions by Turkey show a lack of good will to say the least.
We await the response of the Asian Parliamentary Assembly and its President for further action.
The House of Representatives will also assess any other actions it deems appropriate and within a wider context, in light of the developments.
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