Özersay stated that many question still remain unanswered regarding the statement issued by the Greek Cypriot leader Nikos Christodoulides on citizenship, saying, “Discriminatory practices regarding the citizenship of Turkish Cypriots’ spouses and children should come to an end”.
Summarising the 14-point statement issued by the Christodoulides concerning Turkish Cypriots, Kudret Özersay commented on the “citizenship” heading as follows:
“In the leader’s statement, it is mentioned that the examination of pending applications since 2007 regarding citizenship has begun within the framework of the decision taken… In other words, they confess to arbitrarily delaying the examination of people’s applications for about 17 years.
“The statement does not provide an answer to whether children from mixed marriages can obtain citizenship, harbouring a serious ambiguity and strengthening concerns about discriminatory practices among applicants.
If the Cyprus Greek leader really wants to act like a member state of the EU, he should just apply the ‘laws of the Republic of Cyprus and the acquis communautaire of the EU’ as emphasised in his statement. He should not discriminate while implementing the laws. In other words, he should grant citizenship rights to all children of Turkish Cypriots, regardless of who they marry or where they marry. Because when granting citizenship to the children of Cypriot citizens from marriages, it does not matter where the marriage took place, when it took place, or where the children were born.
“As long as the same law is applied differently to the children of Turkish Cypriots through their marriages compared to the children of Greek Cypriots through their marriages, discrimination persists. And under these conditions, words like ‘member state of the EU, EU law’ lose their meaning and significance.
“A statement was made regarding citizenship, but many question marks were not resolved, and uncertainty continues“.
