BRUSSELS — The Turkish hosts of this year’s United Nations climate conference have blocked Cyprus from preparatory briefings and are refusing bilateral meeting requests sent by Nicosia on behalf of the European Union, five diplomats and officials told POLITICO.
Cyprus currently holds the rotating presidency of the Council of the EU, meaning it acts as a neutral representative of the entire 27-country bloc. Its exclusion has therefore turned into a diplomatic headache for Brussels in the run-up to this year’s U.N. climate talks, known as COP31, in the Turkish resort city Antalya.
Although the country has been divided since 1974, when Turkey invaded in response to a Greece-backed coup, the Nicosia-based Republic of Cyprus is internationally recognized as the island’s only government.
Turkey, however, doesn’t recognize the Republic of Cyprus and maintains no diplomatic relations with the EU member country. Instead, it recognizes as independent the breakaway Turkish Cypriot north of the island, the only government in the world to do so.
