Turkish Cypriots express anger over Turkish woman granted ‘TRNC citizenship for love'

There was political unrest in North Cyprus on Thursday after it was revealed that a Turkish woman from Istanbul was granted citizenship simply because she was the lover of one of the “ministers.” 

The TRNC Council of Ministers, had met on Monday, and decided that 57 people would be granted citizenship, of the Turkish Republic of North Cyprus, mostly children born in the island years ago, to Turks who went to the island after 1974.

However, trouble started when it was discovered that one of those granted citizenship was the girlfriend of a minister who works as a human resources officer in a private security company in Istanbul.
 
According to report by Turkish daily, Gazete vatan, the said woman who did not have a residence permit had visited the TRNC several times on a tourist visa but had not stayed for a long time.

The report quoted locals complaining that there were people born in the north who were still waiting to become “citizens”.

According to reports, the TRCN authorities had granted some 9,500 citizenships since April 2013.

The Turkish Cypriot Republican Party said it would take legal action over the citizenships issue.