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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.

Political participation · European Parliament

Vote and stand — resident in the north

Report card / Political participation / European Parliament

Living in the northDelivered85/100

Since the 2014 amendment to the European Parliament election law, Republic citizens whom the Population Registry records as living in areas outside the government's effective control may be entered automatically on a special European-election roll if they hold a Republic identity card. For the 2024 election 103,269 were registered this way, per the Elections Office. Registration is automatic; SWP reports that residence criteria were not checked for that registration. In 2019 about 1,000 additional would-be voters reportedly could not vote because of registry problems. The same citizens have no equivalent roll for House elections.12345

Basis and sources

Legal anchor Article 20(2)(b) and Article 22(2) TFEU; Article 39 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights; Article 3 of Protocol No 1 ECHR; Law 10(I)/2004 as amended by Law 35(I)/2014

Sources for this criterion

  1. 1. Central Elections Service page: Turkish-Cypriot electorateA — primary / documentary · Republic of Cyprus, Ministry of Interior, Central Elections Service · 2025-09-18
  2. 2. Over 100,000 Turkish Cypriots registered to vote in EU electionsB — institutional / reported · Cyprus Mail · 2024-05-31
  3. 3. Erol Kaymak, European Elections and their Implications for the Cyprus Issue: Populist Challenges and Turkish Cypriot Inclusion, SWP Comment No. 28B — institutional / reported · Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik · July 2024
  4. 4. Numbers of Turkish Cypriot voters expected to double (2019 registry problems)B — institutional / reported · Cyprus Mail · 2024-06-09
  5. 5. Law on the Election of Members of the European Parliament, Law 10(I)/2004, as amended including Law 35(I)/2014A — primary / documentary · Republic of Cyprus · 2004-01-01
Stated position of the duty-bearer — Original

The Republic maintains that all Cypriot citizens, including Turkish Cypriots resident in the north who hold Republic of Cyprus identity documents, are entitled to vote in European Parliament elections and are enrolled for that purpose; the Republic's stated position is that no separate quota of seats can be created for one community within a single national constituency, and that the low participation figure is a matter of abstention rather than exclusion.

— Republic of Cyprus, stated position as recorded in Cyprus Rights reference register

Status partially addressedWeight 5/5Score 85

Sources

  1. Central Elections Service page: Turkish-Cypriot electorateA — primary / documentaryRepublic of Cyprus, Ministry of Interior, Central Elections Service · 2025-09-18An official webpage of the Republic of Cyprus's Central Elections Service describing the Turkish Cypriot electorate.Official page (posted 18 September 2025): automatic entry of north-resident ID holders on a Special Electoral Roll for EP elections; south-resident registered Turkish Cypriots vote in all national elections — the state's own description of the mechanismhttps://www.gov.cy/moi-elections/en/documents/elections-2024/turkish-cypriot-electorate/
  2. Over 100,000 Turkish Cypriots registered to vote in EU electionsB — institutional / reportedCyprus Mail · 2024-05-31A Cyprus Mail news report on the Elections Office announcement that over 100,000 Turkish Cypriots registered to vote in the 2024 European Parliament election.Cyprus Mail, 31 May 2024 — Elections Office announcement: 103,269 north-resident Turkish Cypriots registered for the 2024 EP election (plus 834 south-resident)https://cyprus-mail.com/2024/05/31/over-100000-turkish-cypriots-registered-to-vote-in-eu-elections/
  3. Erol Kaymak, European Elections and their Implications for the Cyprus Issue: Populist Challenges and Turkish Cypriot Inclusion, SWP Comment No. 28B — institutional / reportedStiftung Wissenschaft und Politik · July 2024A commentary by researcher Erol Kaymak, published by Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik as SWP Comment No. 28, on European elections and Turkish Cypriot inclusion in the Cyprus issue.SWP Comment No. 28, July 2024, Table 1. Author is a Turkish Cypriot political scientist (Eastern Mediterranean University; CATS Fellow at SWP), recorded per the editorial doctrine's independence rule; his 2019 and 2024 turnout figures are sourced by him to Kathimerini Cyprus, 17 June 2024, not to an official returnhttps://www.swp-berlin.org/publications/products/comments/2024C28_EPElectionsCyprus.pdf
  4. Numbers of Turkish Cypriot voters expected to double (2019 registry problems)B — institutional / reportedCyprus Mail · 2024-06-09A Cyprus Mail news report on expectations that the number of registered Turkish Cypriot voters would double, citing 2019 voter-registry problems.Cyprus Mail, 9 June 2024 — reports that in the 2019 EP election roughly 1,000 additional would-be voters could not cast ballots due to registry problemshttps://cyprus-mail.com/2024/06/09/numbers-of-turkish-cypriot-voters-expected-to-double/
  5. Law on the Election of Members of the European Parliament, Law 10(I)/2004, as amended including Law 35(I)/2014A — primary / documentaryRepublic of Cyprus · 2004-01-01Law 10(I)/2004 on the election of members of the European Parliament, as amended including by Law 35(I)/2014.Law 10(I)/2004 ss. 3, 9(1A), 13–14https://www.cylaw.org/nomoi/enop/non-ind/2004_1_10/full.html
  6. 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