European Parliament postpones Turkey vote

The European Parliament postponed a vote on Wednesday to ratify the Protocol that extends the EU-Turkey customs union to new member states, owing to Turkey’s non-recognition of Cyprus.

When Turkey signed the Protocol in July, it issued a declaration stating that this did not constitute recognition of the Republic of Cyprus.

The largest grouping in the European Parliament is the centre-right European People’s Party that is dominated by national parties that either oppose Turkey’s EU membership outright, such as Germany’s Christian Democrats, or want tougher terms.

Hans-Gert Poettering, the chairman of the European People’s Party and an opponent of Turkish membership, called the non-recognition of Cyprus “unacceptable”.

However, postponement of the ratification will have no impact on the start of Turkey’s accession negotiations, due this coming Monday October 3.

The vote to postpone the ratification vote was 311 in favour and 285 against, with 65 abstentions.

The European Parliament also issued a non-binding resolution calling on Turkey to acknowledge the killing of Armenians in 1915-23 as genocide.

The Armenian issue came to the fore again last week when a Turkish court banned two universities from holding a debate on the issue, although it went ahead anyway at another university.

Turkey says that the Armenians were killed in intercommunal fighting, although the government has supported a debate among academics about the issue.