Commission attacks Turkey for excluding Cyprus from climate meetings: "Unacceptable"

The Turkish government will host the COP31 summit in Antalya in November and has excluded Cyprus from the preparatory meetings.

As Politico reports, Ankara has been refusing or ignoring requests for bilateral meetings sent by Cyprus, despite the fact that Nicosia currently represents all 27 EU governments as it holds the rotating presidency of the EU Council in the first half of the year, according to diplomats.

Hoekstra: Unacceptable, we cannot accept it
“This is unacceptable and we will not accept it. “You either work with all 27, or none of the 27,” EU Climate Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra told Politico on Thursday.

“If you are looking to host an international event, that overrides any national sensitivities you might have,” he added.

The European Commission also addressed the issue at a press conference on Thursday.

“We have made it clear that excluding a United Nations member state from the preparation process for the COP31 UN Climate Conference is not acceptable,” spokeswoman Anna Kaisa Itkonen said. "Turkey assured us that Cyprus will not be excluded from future preparatory meetings for COP31".