Greek Cypriot administration says children of mixed marriages are to be ‘reconsidered’

THE Greek Cypriot administration is to reconsider citizenship applications for children of mixed Turkish and Turkish Cypriot marriages in a move that could affect up to an estimated 30,000 people, according to Southbased daily newspaper Alithia.

Cyprus Today reported last week that some 1,000 Turkish Cypriots are planning to sue the South for discrimination over its refusal of — or failure to acknowledge receipt of — “Republic of Cyprus” citizenship for the mixed-marriage children.

Preparations for the legal action have been under way for several months, largely coordinated by TRNC senior and middle school teaching unions Ktös and Ktöes.

In what could be a new development, however, Alithia reported on Sunday that the South’s interior ministry was to look into the issue of children born to an estimated 17,000 Turkish-Turkish Cypriot couples.

Lawyers Metin Hakkı and Nikoletta Haralimbidou were quoted by the daily as saying that they would pursue the case in the courts of South Cyprus and the TRNC if the matter remained unresolved — and would resort to the European Court of Human Rights if the authorities in the South took no action.

Ms Haralimbidou said that under the laws of South Cyprus, a child born to at least one Cypriot parent had been entitled to “Republic of Cyprus” citizenship but the law was amended in 1999 to state that if one of the parents had entered or lived in the island “illegally”, the administration could deny their child citizenship.

“That is how the problem was created,” she added.