Maviş: Stop Treating Our Own Children as Foreigners in Our Own Country!

Maviş noted that ongoing social conflicts have, at best, prevented approximately 30,000 people from obtaining citizenship of the Republic of Cyprus.

Maviş said, "The understanding of 'the solution to the problem is unresolved' by those involved in the Cyprus issue affects Cypriot Turks the most."

Maviş's statement reads as follows:

"One of the most significant social problems created by the Cyprus issue is the inability of Cypriot Turks who are citizens of the Republic of Cyprus to obtain citizenship due to marriages between Cypriot Turks and citizens of other countries. Ongoing social conflicts and the ethnic division of our island have prevented, at best estimate, approximately 30,000 people from obtaining citizenship of the Republic of Cyprus.

Through our work, we have documented that 6,300 people have been unable to obtain citizenship of the Republic of Cyprus for various reasons, and 527 people have been prevented from acquiring citizenship despite meeting the specified criteria. The understanding of 'the solution to the problem is unresolved' by those involved in the Cyprus issue affects Cypriot Turks the most.

As a result, one of the greatest injustices is experienced by those who enter into mixed marriages and their children. Just as states do not decide whom individuals marry, individuals do not have the right to determine their parents. While these realities are evident, it is unacceptable for Cypriot Greek political elites sitting in the Republic of Cyprus authorities to produce arbitrary decisions or suspend citizenship rights regarding our EU citizenship as a political commodity and bargaining chip.

For the first time in history, three Turkish Cypriots lodged a complaint with the UN in Geneva, stating that they were unable to obtain citizenship of the 'Republic of Cyprus'. The acceptance of the 675-signature petition submitted by the Kimliksizler Derneği to the European Parliament's Petitions Committee, MEP Niyazi Kızılyürek raising the issue in the Commission, and our unions taking the case brought by Ms. Eda Hançer Akkor to the appellate court (Supreme Court) indicate the validity of our struggle.

Mr. Hristodulidis, For seventeen years, Turkish Cypriots have been traveling abroad for birth and marriage to comply with the criteria you announced, risking childbirth abroad to transfer citizenship rights, the most basic rights, to their children. Is the new series of criteria you present a new hope or an old disappointment? Mr. Hristodulidis, We thank you for taking a step towards evaluating applications, but the expectation of the Turkish Cypriot community is not to differentiate our children based on the place of marriage and birth, but to treat them all equally. Stop making our own children strangers in our own country! As unions, we consider the acquisition of citizenship as a societal duty, and we will not give up the struggle in this regard. Yours respectfully."