Foreign Minister Ertuğruloğlu completes his meetings in London
17 October, 2017Özgürgün: “The Turkish Cypriot people will never approve an agreement which does not involve Turkey’s full and effective guarantee”
17 October, 2017TRNC Speaker of the Assembly Sibel Siber met with the Inter-Parliamentary Union President Saber Hossain Chowdhury as part of her visit to St. Petersburg, Russia for the 137th Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) General Assembly.
Siber spoke about the negotiation process after the collapsed Crans-Montana talks and the expectations of the Turkish Cypriot people at the Tavrichesky Palace where the IPU General Assembly was held. She also gave examples of the unjust embargoes imposed on the Turkish Cypriot people, explaining that it is the duty of countries which believe in democracy to lift the political and economic embargoes which affect all aspects of life in the TRNC, including sport, culture and commerce.
Stating that elected representatives of the Turkish Cypriot people have been prevented from contacting other parliamentarians, Siber said that this is against parliamentary diplomacy and
asked for support from the IPU President for the TRNC’s observer status membership. She also demanded the participation of Turkish Cypriot women parliamentarians in IPU parliamentary meetings, adding that women must play an important role in politics to achieve world peace.
IPU President Saber Hossain Chowdhury said that he was against the embargoes and diplomatic isolation imposed on democratically elected parliaments. Having followed the collapse of the Cyprus negotiations closely, President Chowdhury expressed dismay that negotiations had failed. He also stated that he would lend his support to the TRNC’s bid for observer status membership.
Sibel Siber also met with Mexican Senator Gabriela Cuevas, one of two female candidates who is a frontrunner for the Mexican Presidency in the new period of the PAB. Senator Cuevas promised Siber her support and pledged to remove obstacles to dialogue and parliamentary diplomacy.
Having addressed the Senate briefly, giving a short address on the isolation and embargoes imposed on the Turkish Cypriots and asking for its support, Siber wished the Senate success in its work.