Press Releases

UK’s Communication Workers Union signals support for Embargoed! - 01 May 2007

1 May 2007: The Communication Workers Union (CWU) has recently agreed at a high level meeting between its Executive Committee to give its support to human rights group Embargoed! The CWU will affiliate to the group to show its solidarity with their campaign to bring equal rights to people living in North Cyprus. Turkish Cypriots have been internationally isolated for decades and the CWU has a history of working to lift embargoes against people around the world including Cuba, Palestine and Nicaragua. The timing of the affiliation by the CWU, whose 250,000 membership equals the entire population of North Cyprus, is timed to coincide with the globally celebrated Workers Day on 1 May.

As part of its support for Embargoed!, the CWU has given the group advice on how to deal with racism and discrimination, and is also seconding its Policy Advisor Fevzi Hussein for one day per month to assist the group's lobbying activities. The CWU’s international officer John Baldwin has been at the forefront of facilitating CWU support for the campaign. He said, “The CWU are very happy to support Embargoed! The Turkish Cypriot people themselves have done nothing to deserve the international exclusion they have endured for over 40 years. We believe our support for Embargoed! will help raise awareness of this important campaign and is consistent with the CWU’s international solidarity portfolio”.

A number of joint initiatives are being planned with the CWU to highlight within its own organisation and beyond the unfair practices that exist against Turkish Cypriots. One such campaign will tackle the lack of direct post to North Cyprus. Currently, as only Turkey has formal relations with North Cyprus, all remaining post to/from anywhere in the world has to go through a PO BOX address - Mersin 10 - in Turkey, where it is processed and sent on, adding unnecessary time for personal and commercial communications. Many of the CWU’s members work in the UK postal industry and the union hopes its support can help bring about more significant pressure to end the world’s discrimination against North Cyprus.
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Notes to editors

About CWU – www.cwu.org
The Communication Workers Union (CWU) is the biggest union for the communications industry in the UK with 250,000 members. It was formed in January 1995 when the Union of Communication Workers joined forces with the National Communications Union. It represents members that work in the Post Office, BT and other telephone companies, cable TV, Accenture HR Services, the Alliance and Leicester and Girobank, covering diverse industry expertise including engineering, computing, clerical, mechanical, driving, retail, financial and manual skills.

About Embargoed! – www.embargoed.org
Embargoed! is an independent human rights group campaigning for the immediate and unconditional end to all embargoes against North Cyprus. The group was launched on 4 March 2005 and aims to play an active role in raising awareness about the isolation of North Cyprus and lobbying world leaders and institutions to restore the fundamental political, economic and social rights of Turkish Cypriots.

Contact Embargoed!:
• Telephone/fax: + 44 (0)20 8279 8561
• Email: mail@embargoed.org;
• Post: Embargoed! Suite 205, 14 Tottenham Court Road, London W1T 1JY

Press Enquiries:
Ms. İpek Özerim T: +44 (0)777 623 0466 E: ipekh@excite.com



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