The European Union has rebuked Turkey for excluding Cyprus from preparations for the upcoming U.N. climate summit, COP31. Cyprus, which holds the EU’s rotating presidency, was not invited to two preparatory meetings in New York and Tokyo.

Turkey’s Stance on Cyprus

Turkey does not recognize the Greek Cypriot government in the south of the ethnically split island of Cyprus and is the only government in the world to recognize the breakaway Turkish Cypriot administration in the north.

EU climate commissioner Wopke Hoekstra stated that EU countries had agreed to not accept Turkey’s behavior and that the full solidarity of the other 26 EU member countries would apply. Hoekstra added that he had communicated to the U.N. and Turkey’s EU embassy that excluding Cyprus was unacceptable.

Cyprus is concerned it will be excluded from the part of COP31 attended by world leaders, which, as host, Turkey would organize. If that happens, some EU countries may consider skipping COP31 in solidarity.

Original reporting: Appleton, WI News Feed (HLL/CB) — read the source article.