The General Secretary of the National Unity Party (UBP) Oğuzhan Hasipoğlu attended the General Assembly meetings of the Parliamentary Assembly of Europe (PACE) in Strasbourg.
Hasipoğlu along with 19 MPs from Türkiye expressed support to Kosovo’s membership to the Council of Europe.
He also said that the example of Kosovo gave more meaning to the reality of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus every passing day.
UBP General Secretary, Member of Parliament Oğuzhan Hasipoğlu, who attended the General Assembly of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) in Strasbourg on behalf of the Republic’s Assembly, provided information about the General Assembly’s work.
Hasipoğlu stated that the most important issue at the General Assembly was the vote on Kosovo’s membership to the Council of Europe and the report on the fenced off town of Maraş, of which Italian Member of Parliament Piero Fassino was the rapporteur, on the agenda of the Political Committee.
Hasipoğlu emphasized that the Kosovo process and the vote were also important for the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), pointing out that the example of Kosovo was gaining significance for the reality of the TRNC every day.
He noted that after the approval of the Council for Kosovo’s final membership, the Ministers of the 46 member countries would need to obtain a two-thirds majority at the meeting to be held at the end of May.
Stating that “respect for the rights of the people of Kosovo and their benefit from the European Convention on Human Rights and judicial guarantee have been emphasized,” Hasipoğlu explained that Serbian and Greek Cypriot representatives had made it clear they would be voting against Kosovo’s membership.
The UBP MP also drew attention to the fact that Greece and the Greek Cypriot Administration would be voting different this time despite their tradition of supporting the same positions.
Hasipoğlu said that as the TRNC delegation, they supported Kosovo’s membership in the Council of Europe along with 18 deputies from the Republic of Türkiye.
“While Kosovo and Serbs discussed a federal settlement for only three years, I expressed that we have been discussing the same issues for 40 years without reaching a result. I emphasized that we will support them until Kosovo’s membership process is completed,” he added.