EVERY day, thousands of Turkish Cypriots brave the crowds at the District Office in Nicosia to obtain identity cards and passports as a way of gaining access to some of the benefits of EU membership.
Recent figures from the Interior Ministry say around 33,000 Turkish Cypriots have obtained identity cards of the Cyprus Republic since restrictions on crossing between the north and south of the island were relaxed in April 2003.
But officials at the Nicosia District Office say there has been a major influx of applications for identity cards and passports since May 1 when Cyprus joined the EU.
In fact, the Office was so inundated with applications yesterday officials were unable to give the latest figures on applicants.
Most of those making applications said they were doing so in order to enjoy freer travel in the EU and beyond.
Forty-year-old civil servant Ahmet Huseyin said: “In the past I’ve been able to travel with a Turkish passport, but with a Cyprus passport it’s much easier because I don’t have to get a visa.”
Unemployed Yusuf Erek said he now saw himself as an EU citizen, despite the fact that the acquis communautaire does not apply to the north.
“I’m going to be an EU citizen from now on. I can travel more easily.”
Asked whether he thought applying for Cyprus citizen represented a betrayal of the ‘TRNC’, he said: “There’s nothing wrong with what I’m doing, this is my country too.”
Retired Fatma Salahi said she had come to the Nicosia District Office to renew her expired Republic of Cyprus passport.
“I had the passport from years back, but I never used it. But I will from now on because I can fly from both sides of the island using it, and I won’t need a visa as I did with my TRNC passport.”
Until very recently, the Turkish Cypriot authorities did not allow Turkish Cypriots to use Republic of Cyprus passports to fly in and out of the occupied areas.
Erdem Alp, a young man who has just completed his military service in the north, said he was getting a Republic passport because of the non-recognition of the ‘TRNC’, whose passport he also holds.
“I’ve been to England and France with my ‘TRNC’ passport, but it’s very problematic. They don’t recognise us so we have to get visas. It’s time consuming and expensive.”
Alp rejected the idea that obtaining a Republic passport was an act of betrayal to the northern regime.
“I don’t want to go into politics here, but I’ve given this a lot of thought and I believe that what I am doing is right.”
Ahmet Sinsek, a retired policeman, said he had come to the District Office to get a passport for his teenage granddaughter.
“I think it will be useful for her in the future,” he said, adding that even on a daily basis it made crossing to the south easier.
His granddaughter, who declined to give her name, said: “The process takes quite a lot of time and travelling around from office to office, but I think it’s worth it.”
