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EU Calls Turkish Plans for Cyprus Unacceptable

European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell during a press conference in Belgrade, Serbia, January 31, 2020. (AP)
European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell during a press conference in Belgrade, Serbia, January 31, 2020. (AP)
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EU Calls Turkish Plans for Cyprus Unacceptable

European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell during a press conference in Belgrade, Serbia, January 31, 2020. (AP)
European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell during a press conference in Belgrade, Serbia, January 31, 2020. (AP)

The European Union’s top diplomat Josep Borrell voiced deep concern on Tuesday over Turkish plans for the divided island of Cyprus, calling them unacceptable.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said peace talks can take place only between “the two states” on the Mediterranean island, a position rejected by Greek Cypriots and the EU. Turkish Cypriot officials also announced plans for the potential resettlement of a small part of an abandoned Greek Cypriot suburb of Varosha.

“The High Representative of the European Union expresses his deep concern over the announcements made by (Turkish) President (Tayyip) Erdogan and Mr. (Ersin) Tatar on 20 July 2021, with respect to the fenced-off area of Varosha, which constitutes an unacceptable unilateral decision to change the status of Varosha,” Borrell said in a statement.

“The EU once again underlines the need to avoid unilateral actions in breach of international law and renewed provocations, which could raise tensions on the island and compromise a return to talks on a comprehensive settlement of the Cyprus issue,” Borrell said.

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Orban Says Hungary is Quitting the ICC to End its 'Half-hearted' Membership

A handout photo made available by the Hungarian Prime Minister's Press Office shows Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban speaking during a joint press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu following their meeting in the government headquarters in Budapest, Hungary, 03 April 2025. EPA/ZOLTAN FISCHER
A handout photo made available by the Hungarian Prime Minister's Press Office shows Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban speaking during a joint press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu following their meeting in the government headquarters in Budapest, Hungary, 03 April 2025. EPA/ZOLTAN FISCHER
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Orban Says Hungary is Quitting the ICC to End its 'Half-hearted' Membership

A handout photo made available by the Hungarian Prime Minister's Press Office shows Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban speaking during a joint press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu following their meeting in the government headquarters in Budapest, Hungary, 03 April 2025. EPA/ZOLTAN FISCHER
A handout photo made available by the Hungarian Prime Minister's Press Office shows Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban speaking during a joint press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu following their meeting in the government headquarters in Budapest, Hungary, 03 April 2025. EPA/ZOLTAN FISCHER

Hungary was never fully committed to the International Criminal Court, Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Friday, a day after his government announced a decision to quit the global tribunal for war crimes and genocide.
Speaking on state radio, Orban offered justification for why Hungary did not detain Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday when Israel's prime minister arrived in Budapest for a state visit despite an ICC arrest warrant, The Associated Press reported.
“Hungary has always been half-hearted” in its ICC membership, said Orban, who on Thursday said the ICC was “no longer an impartial court, not a court of law, but a political court.” Hungary joined the ICC during Orban’s first term as prime minister in 2001.
“We signed an international treaty, but we never took all the steps that would otherwise have made it enforceable in Hungary,” Orban said, referring to the fact that Hungary’s parliament never promulgated the court’s statute into Hungarian law.
The court, based in The Hague, Netherlands, issued a warrant for Netanyahu's arrest in November on suspicion of crimes against humanity for his conduct of Israel's war in the Gaza Strip. Signatories to the ICC, such as Hungary, are required to arrest any suspects facing a warrant if they set foot on their soil.
The ICC and other international organizations have criticized Hungary's defiance of the warrant against Netanyahu. Days before the Israeli leader received a red carpet welcome with full military honors in Hungary's capital, the president of the court’s oversight body wrote to the government in Hungary reminding it of its “specific obligation to comply with requests from the court for arrest and surrender.”
Judges at the ICC have in the past dismissed similar arguments that failure to promulgate the court's statute exempts countries from complying with its rulings.
Hungary's decision to leave the ICC, a process that will take at least a year to complete, will make it the only country in the 27-member European Union that is not a signatory to the court. With 125 current signatory countries, only the Philippines and Burundi have ever withdrawn from the court as Hungary intends.