Greek Cyprus demands EU sanctions against Turkey

Brussels, 14 October 2014 (MIA) - Greek Cypriot member of the European Parliament sent a letter to the Speaker of the Parliament Martin Schultz and to the European Council, with a demand that the European Union introduces sanctions against Turkey, like it did against Russia.

MIA correspondent in Brussels reports that this demand from the six Cypriot MEPs seeks to equate the situation in Turkish held northern Cyprus with the situation in the Ukraine, and to have a similar response. Turkey has held northern, majority Turkish populated Cyprus, since 1974, and talks between the Turkish North and the Greek South for a political solution recently broke off.

- The European Council needs to introduce economic and political sanctions against Turkey, and the Turks need to pay for what they are doing in the northern part of Cyprus. The solution to the divided island is possible if Turkey respects basic human rights, reads the letter signed by Takis Hadjigeorgiou, Costas Mavrides, Demetris Papadakis, Christos Stulianides, Neoklis Sylikiotis and Eleni Theocharous, the six Greek Cypriot members of European Parliament. The European Union introduced sanctions against Russia after it incorporated the Ukrainian region of Crimea and over Russian support for the eastern Ukrainian separatist movements.

Ever since joining the European Union in 2004, Cyprus has condition and then blocked Turkish accession talks, leading them to a complete stand still. Greeks blame the Turkish Army, which intervened during a messy power struggle in Cyprus in 1974, for annexation and ethnic cleansing of the island. The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, declared in the northern 36 percent of the island, remains recognized only by Turkey. Turkish Cypriots accepted a re-unification plan proposed in 2004, but Greek Cypriots voted against it in a referendum.

The argument over the island intensified in past years, after oil and gas were found south of the Greek part of the island. Turkey insists that a political settlement is necessary so that all communities in Cyprus can use the proceeds from these resources, and has prevented Greek Cypriots from exploring the finds.