[01] Foreign Ministry refutes claims for alleged acceptance of the pseudostate as observer at the OIC's Parliamentary Union

" The various statements and reports on the alleged acceptance of the so- called "TRNC" as observer at the Parliamentary Union of the OIC are not valid.

" The so-called "president" of the pseudo-parliament did address the Executive Committee of the Parliamentary Union of the OIC, but he was given the status of visitor.

" According to the press release issued for the Jakarta meeting, the Executive Committee decided to forward the issue of accepting or not the application of the "Turkish Cypriot community", and not the "TRNC", to its next meeting and recalled the articles of relevant decisions issued at previous meetings of bodies of the Parliamentary Union. Specifically, reference was made to the decision of the 6th session of the Executive Committee, convened in Rabat on 24-25 September 2001, which clearly mentioned that the status of observer had been allocated by the OIC to the Muslim Turkish community of northern Cyprus and not the "TRNC" which "is only recognised by Turkey". It is noted that in view of the 10th summit of Heads of state and government to take place in Malaysia on 11-18 October 2003, both the President of the Republic Mr Tassos Papadopoulos and the Foreign Minister Mr George Iacovou held a series of meetings with their counterparts from member states of the OIC in New York on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, while the Foreign Ministry and the diplomatic missions of the Cyprus Republic continue with their regular contacts with the governments of OIC member states.

From the Republic of Cyprus Press and Information Office (PIO) Server at http://www.pio.gov.cy/

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