Social democrats call for Turkish-Cypriot participation in 2014 European elections
Brussels – The Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats, the second biggest party in the European Parliament, on Thursday urged Martin Schulz, the president of the Euro assembly, to start negotiations with Nicosia so that a way can be found to enable Turkish-Cypriot politicians to take part in next year’s European elections.
“It is no longer acceptable that a group of European citizens is not represented in the important work of the European Parliament,” S&D group leader Hannes Swoboda said.
“The Cypriot authorities should propose viable and practical solutions on how this representation could be addressed at the next European elections. A solution must be found so that all European citizens can be represented in the work of the European Parliament in the future,” he said.
Cyprus was split into an internationally recognized Greek-speaking south and a breakaway Turkish-speaking north in 1974 when Turkey invaded after a coup by supporters of union with Greece.
