Cyprus MEP walks out of Ankara meet over Turkish insult

Cyprus MEP Eleni Theocharous, a member of the European Popular Party, walked out of a European Parliament meeting in Ankara when she realised that her accreditation had been purposely changed by the Turkish Foreign Ministry.
Theocharous said that her documentation at the joint meeting of the European Parliament Committee on Environment, Public Health and Food Safety and the Turkish Ministry of Development and Environment presented her as representative of the “Greek Cypriot administration of the south” and not of the Republic of Cyprus.
Turkey, that refuses to recognise EU-member Cyprus and has an embargo on all Cyprus-flag ships and aircraft from entering its ports and airports, is jeopardising its own accession ambitions by saying it will boycott the Cyprus presidency of the European Commission from next July.
According to a statement, Theocharous asked for explanations and demanded respect to the Republic of Cyprus. The Turkish delegation claimed that titles and names of each of the MEPs were sent by the European Commission, something that was denied by a Commission representative who was present at the meeting.
The MEP informed the Permanent Representative of the European Commission in Ankara, Marc Pierini, who gave instructions to the representative of the European Commission to withdraw from the meeting as well. Pierini said he would also contact Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu.