‘Mixed marriage is not a crime’
Protesters demand Greek Cypriots end policy of ‘racism and discrimination’
A GROUP of protesters held a demonstration in South Nicosia last Saturday against what they regard as a citizenship policy based on “racism and discrimination” by the Greek Cypriot authorities towards those born from and part of “mixed marriages”.
The group, calling themselves “The Unidentified”, gathered at Ledra Palace at 9.30am and marched to the Greek Cypriot interior ministry.
They carried placards and banners bearing messages in English, Turkish and Greek such as “Mixed marriage is not a crime”, “Love knows no identity”, “Cypriot but without an ID”, “Don’t meddle in my marriage”, “My mum’s a Cypriot, what about me?”, and “What are we, evrodo [bastard]?”.
A press statement read out at the protest said that “Republic of Cyprus” citizenship rights are being “illegally denied”.
“We, as Turkish Cypriots, have the right to Republic of Cyprus (RoC) citizenship but for some reason our right to citizenship, which is a fundamental human right, is being violated,” the statement said.
“It is obvious that there is systematic racism and discrimination against a certain group of people in Cyprus because of so-called mixed marriages. “In such cases, one of the spouses is an RoC citizen whilst the other spouse holds Turkish Republic citizenship or another country’s citizenship.
“RoC citizenship is vitally important for Turkish Cypriots. It is obvious that the opportunities it provides for travel, education, health, and employment are not comparable to Turkish Cypriots’ [citizenship] when one considers the internationally valid identity provided by the RoC citizenship... On a legal basis, it is clear that our children have every right to obtain citizenship of the RoC when at least one parent holds the state’s citizenship.”
The statement noted that “as a result of the RoC’s arbitrary, illegal and incomprehensible practice, citizenship is given to children who are not born in the northern part of the island”, a policy that “forces Turkish Cypriot women who are citizens of the Republic of Cyprus [to] go abroad during the most difficult period of their pregnancy and give birth in a foreign country, away from their loved ones, in order to make sure that her child is ‘eligible’ for citizenship of the RoC”, a “clear violation of women’s rights”.
It added that the “discrimination against our children” by the Greek Cypriot government when deciding who to grant citizenship to occurs “not only against Turkish Cypriots” but “also to the children of Greek Cypriots who are married to a foreigner, e.g. an Asian or African person”.
The statement ended by calling on the Greek Cypriot government to “immediately stop this inhumane practice” or that the issue will be taken all the way to the European Court of Human Rights.