Minister of Education Athena Michailidou will participate in a meeting of the Culture and Education committee of the European Parliament (CULT) on Tuesday afternoon, to brief MEPs on the situation regarding Greek-speaking schools for the enclaved in Turkish occupied Rizokarpaso.

According to the agenda of the committee, the MEPs will have an exchange of views with Michailidou between 16:00 and 16:30 (local time, 17:00 - 17:30 Cyprus time), in a closed session.

The Ministry has said in a press release previously that Michailidou will brief MEPs about long-standing violations of the fundamental right of access to education for enclaved students by the Turkish Cypriot illegal administration, which systematically obstructs the smooth operation of the Rizokarpaso kindergarten, primary school and secondary school.

In statement after a parliamentary committee on Education and Culture of the House of Representatives last week, Michailidou said that she would call for the equal treatment of students and teachers. She also announced that there would be a visit of MEPs of the Committee to Rizokarpaso.

Cyprus has been divided since 1974, when Turkey invaded and occupied its northern third. Repeated rounds of UN-led peace talks have so far failed to yield results.

Turkey occupied 36.2% of the sovereign territory of the Republic and forcibly expelled about 180,000 Greek Cypriots from their homes. Another 20,000 Greek Cypriots, who had remained in the occupied areas, were also forced to eventually abandon their homes and seek refuge in the safety of the government controlled areas. Today, very few enclaved Greek Cypriots remain in the occupied areas. The government supports, through certain programmes, people to resettle in their home villages.