Head of EU Parliament: We need to cooperate with Turkey at various levels

President of the European Parliament Martin Schulz met on Thursday in Brussels with Nikos Anastasiades, the president of the southern part of the island of Cyprus, and reiterated the EU’s commitment to resolving the Cyprus question.

According to the official media statement, Schulz stressed that the EU needs “a constructive relationship to Turkey because the EU needs a close cooperation with Turkey – not only for the Cyprus question, there are a lot of other needs in the international diplomatic frame – to keep our relationship with Turkey as deep as possible, as keen as possible.” He also added “an appeal to Turkey not to go away from the European perspective.”

Schulz called on the two parts of the island to work on finding a permanent solution to the Cyprus issue, expressing his support for the efforts made within this framework.

For his part, Anastasiades praised the role of the EU in contributing “towards finding a lasting solution” to resolving the divisions in Cyprus.

He also stressed the need for working towards finding “a solution which will reunify the island, which will give us the chance to live in peace and prosperity for the future and turn the country into a real European state.”

Cyprus has been divided since 1974, with the southern part of the island under the authority of Greek Cypriots and the northern part under Turkish Cypriots.