Bundestag member says Northern Cyprus deserves international recognition

Bundestag member Maximilian Krah said that the Human Rights Committee of the German parliament had twice rejected an application for a working visit to Northern Cyprus. Despite this, he said he intends to travel to the island together with MP Achim Köhler to personally assess the human rights situation.

According to Krah, the trip is being organised at the invitation of the parliament of Northern Cyprus and does not constitute official recognition of the TRNC. He stressed that the purpose of the visit is to develop interparliamentary dialogue and study the situation of Turkish Cypriots on the ground.

At the same time, the German politician said that, in his view, the people of Northern Cyprus “deserve recognition of their state, its institutions and legal system”. He also described the current status quo on the island as unsustainable and called for more active efforts to find a solution to the Cyprus issue that takes into account the rights of both communities.

Krah had previously criticised the refusal to approve the visit, calling the position of the German authorities hypocritical, since German politicians travel to other regions to assess the human rights situation, while trips to Northern Cyprus are blocked.