Filenews 28 November 2025 - by Petros Axfentiou
The issue of the crossings of Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots at the checkpoints was raised by MP Alexandra Attalidou to the Minister of Justice, Marios Hartsiotis.
Specifically, the MP asked the Minister to inform the House of Representatives about whether the current practice at crossing points, according to which there are separate lines of transit and identity control for Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriot citizens of the Republic, is under review.
Ms. Attalidou stressed that this practice is an additional source of delays at crossing points and, due to this, legitimate concerns are raised regarding the equal treatment of citizens, which is guaranteed by Article 28 of the Constitution of the Republic of Cyprus, as well as by Article 18 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) and Article 21 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union.
For identification purposes, the separation in the queues
In his response, the Minister explained that the Police checks at the roadblocks are carried out on the basis of the Green Line Regulation, noting that the European Commission annually carries out an on-site assessment in Cyprus regarding the implementation of this Regulation.
He underlined that the separation of flows at the crossing points between Greek Cypriots/European citizens and Turkish Cypriots was applied for a very short period of time, not for reasons of any discrimination, but exclusively for the purposes of an identification process, in order for officials of the Ministry of Interior to determine the Cypriot origin of the person.
The Minister also clarified that this practice no longer exists and today there is no separation in the flows of persons.
It is recalled that this decision had caused reactions among the Turkish Cypriots, who considered that the regulation conceals expediencies on the part of the Republic of Cyprus.
