Cyprus has granted 5,176 citizenships of the Republic to Turkish Cypriots since 2004, according to Interior Ministry figures.
The figures show 2,972 citizenships between 2004 and February 2007, before the Cabinet of the time set criteria, and 1,806 from February 14, 2007, when the criteria took effect, to 2013. Another 67 followed between 2014 and 2023. Since the revised criteria took effect on February 2, 2024, Cabinet decisions have granted 331.
Article 109(1) of the Population Register Law requires a Cabinet decision to register children born in Cyprus whose foreign parent entered, or lives in, the Republic illegally. For Turkish Cypriots and children of mixed marriages, the Interior Ministry said the Cabinet has set specific criteria for using the discretion the article gives it. The criteria cover whether the foreign parent is a Turkish national or a national of another third country, where the parents married and, for a Turkish parent, how they entered Cyprus. Cases that meet them go to the Cabinet with a proposal for approval.
On the number of applications, the ministry said what it receives are requests or letters rather than applications, so they are not logged in its system. “We do not have a number of the requests pending. Most are submitted more than once,” it said.
(Information from Cyprus News Agency)
