Turkish should be an official EU language

12.00.00am UTC (GMT +0000) Fri 21st Nov 2003

Liberal Democrat MEPs Baroness Sarah Ludford and Baroness Emma Nicholson met Turkish Cypriot opposition party leaders Mehmet Ali Talat and Ali Erel after they had spoken at the European Parliament in Strasbourg about the prospects for negotiating a peaceful settlement in Cyprus on the Basis of the UN 'Annan plan' if they win the elections in North Cyprus in December.

Sarah Ludford is taking up with EU authorities the issue about Turkish not having been designated an official language from next May when the Republic of Cyprus joins the EU. Since Turkish is an official language of the Republic of Cyprus as well as Greek, she feels that the Greek Cypriot government should have nominated Turkish as an official EU language too, or the EU leadership should have pressed them to do so.

She commented:

"When Turkish Cypriots are rightly encouraged to seek a way out of isolation through EU entry as a reunified island, it sends an odd message to deny Turkish status as an official EU language such that Cypriots from the North who wish to seek employment in the EU institutions from May 2004 will have to speak Greek or English. Obviously this would be rectified if there is a settlement between now and May, but it would have been an appropriate and correct gesture for the authorities in the South to have already been signalling a welcome."