Cyprus ‘receives invitation’ to COP31 summit in Turkey

Cyprus has reportedly received a letter inviting it to the UN climate summit in Antalya, a government source informed the Cyprus News Agency on Sunday. The source was responding to an article in Kathimerini which claimed that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan sent personal letters to the leaders of 26 EU member states, inviting them to the leaders’ meeting at COP31 on November 11. Within those exchanges, the source says Cyprus was originally left out, though it would not clarify who sent the invitation it received. The source said the letter followed “systematic and coordinated” diplomatic action, with European institutions and member states in support. European backing had been “practical”, resting on a firm common position that the “full and equal participation of an EU member state in international processes cannot be questioned or restricted unilaterally”. The dispute has been building since spring, for in March, Cyprus was reportedly not invited to a COP31 briefing at UN headquarters in New York. Politico had reported, citing diplomats, that Turkey objected when Cypriot officials tried to attend with the EU delegation. It also reported that Ankara had ignored or rejected requests for meetings made on the EU’s behalf while Cyprus held the EU council presidency. In April the EU expressed “serious concern” after Cyprus was reportedly denied a place at a COP31 meeting chaired by Turkish environment minister Murat Kurum on March 27. Turkey defended its position, arguing that the meetings were not held under a formal UN mandate and that invitations were at the organiser’s discretion. In June, however, Turkish diplomatic sources told Reuters that Cypriot delegations had been invited to all COP31 events under UN coordination. The EU’s climate spokeswoman called the earlier conduct “unacceptable and inconsistent with the status of the country hosting COP31”. After a meeting of EU climate ministers in June, Climate Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra said the bloc would not accept Cyprus being left out. Poland’s environment minister, Krzysztof Bolesta, said that if Cyprus were treated unfairly, EU members “should not be going to Turkey”. Ireland’s climate minister, Darragh O’Brien, likewise said his country stood in full solidarity with Cyprus. Turkey is co-hosting the summit with Australia, Kurum chairs COP31, while Australian climate minister Chris Bowen presides over negotiations between political leaders. Bowen has pledged that the summit will be “transparent, inclusive and collaborative”. A host country has no right to unilaterally exclude a UN member state from the negotiations, although side events and agreements during the 12-day summit are less clearly governed. Christodoulides was received as president of Cyprus at COP29 in Baku in 2024, despite Azerbaijan’s close ties with Turkey.