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Cyprus RightsThe Republic of Cyprus claims the whole island, and owes every right that claim implies to every Cypriot. Cyprus Rights documents where that duty goes unmet for Turkish Cypriots — with sources.
Report cardLanguageEducation in the south

Turkish in state education in the south

Living in the southLargely withheld25/100

The state’s earlier reporting described Turkish lessons at a Limassol school. The Council of Europe’s Sixth Opinion (2025), paragraph 112, adds a more specific account: the education ministry recruited two Turkish Cypriot teachers, one at primary and one at secondary level, and bilingual teachers for Gurbeti Roma pupils. This is not a count of all Turkish-medium provision. CERD’s 2026 observations still express concern about insufficient Turkish-language education in certain areas. A complete school, pupil and teaching-hours series remains missing.12345

Basis and sources

Legal anchor Article 3 of the 1960 Constitution; Article 2 of Protocol No 1 ECHR

Sources for this criterion

  1. 1. CERD/C/CYP/25 — twenty-fifth periodic report of Cyprus (state party report)A — primary / documentary · Republic of Cyprus (submitted to CERD) · 2020-07-22
  2. 2. Meeting summary of the CERD 117th-session review of the twenty-fifth periodic report of Cyprus (CERD/C/CYP/25), public meeting of 17 April 2026A — primary / documentary · Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights · 2026-04-17
  3. 3. CERD/C/CYP/CO/25 — Concluding observations on the twenty-fifth periodic report of CyprusA — primary / documentary · UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination · 2026-05-28
  4. 4. Turkish Cypriot Rights Issue Register and Legal Framework Register (Cyprus Rights reference corpus)D — open source · Cyprus Rights · 2026-08-24
  5. 5. Sixth Opinion on Cyprus, Advisory Committee on the Framework Convention for the Protection of National MinoritiesB — institutional / reported · Council of Europe · 2025-07-01

Status stalled / documented concernWeight 3/5Score 25

Record

Corrections and evidence updates

· v1.0.1

Evidence update: added the 2025 Council of Europe account of two Turkish Cypriot teachers; distinguished this specific provision from an island-wide count. The score is unchanged.

Read the previous wording

In its own 2020 report to the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, the state described one Limassol school where a Turkish Cypriot teacher taught Turkish six periods a week — the duty-bearer's own account, about a school attended by Roma pupils. In 2026 the delegation repeated nearly the same description in general terms, without giving numbers. The Committee found the availability of Turkish-language education insufficient in certain areas. No count of teaching posts, schools or pupils is published.

Sources

  1. CERD/C/CYP/25 — twenty-fifth periodic report of Cyprus (state party report)A — primary / documentaryRepublic of Cyprus (submitted to CERD) · 2020-07-22Cyprus's twenty-fifth periodic state report to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD/C/CYP/25), submitted 22 July 2020.The Republic's own report to CERD, 22 July 2020 — the duty-bearer's stated account, including the Agios Antonios (Limassol) Turkish-language teaching example for the 2018-2019 school yearhttps://digitallibrary.un.org/record/4075019/f…https://digitallibrary.un.org/record/4075019/files/CERD_C_CYP_25-EN.pdf
  2. Meeting summary of the CERD 117th-session review of the twenty-fifth periodic report of Cyprus (CERD/C/CYP/25), public meeting of 17 April 2026A — primary / documentaryOffice of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights · 2026-04-17An OHCHR meeting summary of the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination's public review, at its 117th session, of Cyprus's twenty-fifth periodic report.OHCHR meeting summary, Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, 117th session (13 April – 1 May 2026), public meeting of 17 April 2026 on CERD/C/CYP/25. A secretariat summary of oral exchanges; the Committee's concluding observations (expected symbol CERD/C/CYP/CO/25) had not been retrieved by Cyprus Rights at the date of assessmenthttps://www.ohchr.org/en/meeting-summaries/202…https://www.ohchr.org/en/meeting-summaries/2026/04/experts-committee-elimination-racial-discrimination-commend-cyprus
  3. CERD/C/CYP/CO/25 — Concluding observations on the twenty-fifth periodic report of CyprusA — primary / documentaryUN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination · 2026-05-28The UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination's concluding observations on the twenty-fifth periodic report of Cyprus.Concluding observations on the twenty-fifth periodic report of Cyprus, CERD/C/CYP/CO/25, adopted at the 3217th meeting on 27 April 2026, issued 28 May 2026 (paras 27-29 on Turkish Cypriots)https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/15/treat…https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/15/treatybodyexternal/Download.aspx?symbolno=CERD/C/CYP/CO/25
  4. Turkish Cypriot Rights Issue Register and Legal Framework Register (Cyprus Rights reference corpus)D — open sourceCyprus Rights · 2026-08-24Cyprus Rights' own internal reference corpus of registers tracking Turkish Cypriot rights issues and the applicable legal framework.Cyprus Rights reference corpus, compiled 24 August 2026: internal/reference/rights-issue-register-turkish-cypriot.md and internal/reference/legal-framework-register.md. Cited for duty-bearer positions as the registers record them and for documentation-gap statements; each register entry carries its own underlying sources
  5. Sixth Opinion on Cyprus, Advisory Committee on the Framework Convention for the Protection of National MinoritiesB — institutional / reportedCouncil of Europe · 2025-07-01The Sixth Opinion on Cyprus adopted by the Council of Europe's Advisory Committee on the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities.ACFC/OP/VI(2025)2, adopted 1 July 2025, paras. 84–88https://rm.coe.int/acfc-op-vi-2024-2-6th-acfc-…https://rm.coe.int/acfc-op-vi-2024-2-6th-acfc-opinion-on-cyprus-en/4880299766