Turkish

London Liberal Democrat MEP Sarah Ludford has welcomed the news that the Republic of Cyprus has withdrawn an application for the traditional Cypriot cheese to be given EU recognised protected origin (PDO) status only as Halloumi.

Sarah Ludford worked with her LibDem colleague Andrew Duff MEP in urging the European Commission to ensure that there would be no discrimination against production and export of the similar cheese from North Cyprus, where it is known as Hellim.

London Liberal Democrat MEP Sarah Ludford has met with a delegation from North Cyprus to discuss equal treatment of Halloumi and Hellim cheese as regards EU recognition of protected-origin status.

Greek Cypriots applied for Halloumi cheese to be designated under the rules of Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) which ensure that the product can’t be imitated or reproduced. Some British products such as the English cheese Stilton have the same protection.

Dear friends,

We were particularly busy on consumer and citizens' rights in Brussels last week, as well as - very importantly - the interests of taxpayers. More on those stories later, first a word about the London Liberal Democrat conference last Saturday. 

London LibDems

Sarah Ludford (ALDE). - Madam President many of the reforms we constantly call for in Turkey come together in the saga of the repeated closure of Kurdish political parties of which that of the DTP last month is only the latest.

The continued failure to reform the Constitution the Law on Political Parties and the judiciary as well as the continued involvement of the military in politics all influence the context in which Kurdish democratic political representation is repeatedly sabotaged. These closures also sabotage the democratic opening launched last year by the Erdoğan Government which was rightly widely welcomed. The only way to get a durable settlement to the Kurdish question in Turkey is through a political solution and that is the best way to combat the PKK.

In a debate in the European Parliament on democratisation in Turkey with EU High Representative for foreign affairs Catherine Ashton in the wake of last month's ban on the Kurdish Democracy and Society party (DTP) Liberal Democrat European justice & human rights spokeswoman and London MEP Sarah Ludford will say:

"The need for urgent and substantial reform of the constitution to entrench human rights and democracy at the core of the Turkish state and society has been demonstrated yet again by the DTP ban. Although EU accession can act as leverage to ensure full democracy in Turkey the country deserves this for itself."

Sarah Ludford (ALDE). - Mr President I want to deplore the deeply worrying decision of the Turkish Constitutional Court on Friday to close the Democracy Society Party which represents largely Kurdish interests and to ban from politics its leading MPs. This is a very retrograde step and will be used as a pretext to return to violence by extremists. It closes off the democratic political option which the Prime Minister Mr Erdogan has said he wants to pursue.

One of the problems is that the AK Party Government has failed to reform the very law which was used to close the Democracy Society Party - in fact the law under which the AK Party itself almost got closed. So this is not in the interests of the Government of Turkey or its people.

Sarah Ludford (ALDE). - Mr President I want to deplore the deeply worrying decision of the Turkish Constitutional Court on Friday to close the Democracy Society Party which represents largely Kurdish interests and to ban from politics its leading MPs. This is a very retrograde step and will be used as a pretext to return to violence by extremists. It closes off the democratic political option which the Prime Minister Mr Erdogan has said he wants to pursue.

One of the problems is that the AK Party Government has failed to reform the very law which was used to close the Democracy Society Party - in fact the law under which the AK Party itself almost got closed. So this is not in the interests of the Government of Turkey or its people.

The possible closure of the Kurdish interest party in Turkey the Democratic Society Party (DTP) would be a major blow to Turkey's democratic credentials and therefore to its prospects of joining the EU. Hearings on the closure case began on December 9th in Turkey's Constitutional Court.

The DTP is threatened with closure - a ban of the party and all its elected representatives - due to allegations of ties with the Kurdistan Workers' Party the PKK which is branded a terrorist group.

Liberal Democrat European justice & human rights spokeswoman and London MEP Sarah Ludford said after meeting Akif Wan UK representative of the Kurdish National Congress: