NICOSIA: Cyprus said on Monday it would revoke 14 passports issued to Turkish Cypriot officials in the breakaway north of the island over their “hostile” actions.
Government spokesman Marios Pelekanos did not specify which officials were being targeted, but said the decision was linked to Turkish and Turkish Cypriot plans to open up the ghost town of Varosha.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar said last month they would reopen part of the former resort, abandoned since Ankara’s 1974 invasion of the island.
“The cabinet decided to revoke, not renew or issue Republic of Cyprus passports to a number of persons who either participate in the pseudo-state’s cabinet or are members of the Varosha opening committee,” Pelekanos said.
The actions of these officials “undermine the sovereignty, independence, territorial integrity and security of the Republic of Cyprus,” he said.
The official Cyprus News Agency said 14 passports would be revoked — 10 held by cabinet members and four by members of the Varosha committee.
“Their specific hostile actions against the Republic of Cyprus promote the implementation of Turkey’s plans to change the status of Varosha, contrary to United Nations resolutions,” Pelekanos added.
Turkish troops seized the northern third of Cyprus in 1974 in response to an aborted coup in Nicosia aiming at uniting the island with Greece.
The Republic of Cyprus, whose overwhelming majority is Greek Cypriot and which has been a European Union member since 2004, has effective control over the southern two-thirds of the island.
Only Ankara recognizes the breakaway self-declared Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC).
Turkish Cypriots are eligible for a Republic of Cyprus identity card and passport, which allows them free access to the EU.
Media reports said that Tatar obtained a passport in 2000 but that he never used it and would happily return it.
The EU has told Turkey to reverse plans to open up Varosha. In July, the 27-nation bloc which includes the Republic of Cyprus, condemned “Turkey’s unilateral steps and the unacceptable announcements.”
It is estimated that more than 100,000 Turkish Cypriots hold either a Republic of Cyprus ID card or passport.
Cyprus to revoke passports of Turkish Cypriot officials
https://arab.news/8hj3j
Cyprus to revoke passports of Turkish Cypriot officials
- Cyprus said it will revoke 14 passports — 10 held by cabinet members and four by members of the Varosha committee
- Turkish Cypriots are eligible for a Republic of Cyprus identity card and passport, which allows them free access to the EU
US warns UK to stop arresting Palestine Action supporters
- Undersecretary of state for diplomacy: Arrests doing ‘more harm than good’ and ‘censoring’ free speech
- Group was banned in July 2025 after series of break-ins
LONDON: UK authorities should stop arresting protesters showing support for banned group Palestine Action, the White House has warned.
The US undersecretary of state for diplomacy said arrests are doing “more harm than good” and are “censoring” free speech.
Sarah Rogers told news site Semafor: “I would have to look at each individual person and each proscribed organization. I think if you support an organization like Hamas, then depending upon whether you’re coordinating, there are all these standards that get applied.
“This Palestine Action group, I’ve seen it written about. I don’t know what it did. I think if you just merely stand up and say, ‘I support Palestine Action’, then unless you are really coordinating with some violent foreign terrorist, I think that censoring that speech does more harm than good.”
So far, more than 2,000 people have been arrested in the UK for showing support for the group.
It was banned in July 2025 after a series of break-ins nationwide, including at a facility owned by a defense manufacturer and a Royal Air Force base, during which military aircraft were damaged.
Last year, Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg was among those arrested while protesting for Palestine Action.
The group is challenging its ban, saying it should not be compared to terrorist organizations such as the Irish Republican Army, Daesh or Al-Qaeda.
The ban has been criticized by numerous bodies, with Amnesty International calling it a case of “problematic, overly broad and draconian restrictions on free speech.”
In Scotland, prosecutors have been offering to drop charges against some protesters in return for accepting a fine of £100 ($134.30).
Adam McGibbon, who was arrested at a demonstration in Edinburgh last year, refused the offer, saying: “The fact that the authorities are offering fines equivalent to a parking ticket for a ‘terrorism offence’ shows just how ridiculous these charges are. Do supporters of (Daesh) get the same deal?
“I refuse to pay this fine, as has everyone else I know who has been offered one. Just try and put all 3,000 of us who have defied this ban so far in jail.”
Rogers said the UK is also wrong to arrest people using the phrase “globalize the intifada” while demonstrating in support of Palestine, after police in Manchester said in December that it would detain people chanting it.
“I’m from New York City where thousands of people were murdered by jihadists,” she said. referring to the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. “I don’t want an intifada in New York City, and I think anyone who does is disgusting, but should it be legal to say in most contexts? Yes.”
