North deports 4,000 irregular migrants in seven months

In the last seven months, a total of 4,000 irregular migrants have been deported from the breakaway state in the north, according to the “minister of the interior”, Ziya Ozturkler, Turkish Cypriot media reported.

Speaking to Kibris newspaper, Oztukler said the administration in the north would “show zero tolerance” to those who are illegally in the north.

According to the reports, Oztukler, referring to the “amnesty law”, said that based on statistical research, about 4,000-5,000 people will be able to benefit from the “immigrant amnesty”. She added that to date a total of 2,000 people have applied.

Oztukler said that with the new automated control system, their aim is to tackle the problem of unregistered workers or residents in the north. “With the new automated visa system, everything will be recorded and in this way all those who wish to come for various reasons will be able to easily enter the country,” she said.

She also said that they are working to prepare a system that will be able to record on a once-yearly basis, either in January or February, the percentage of the population and the number of people who have received “citizenship” of the ‘TRNC’, as well as which country they come from.

Referring to the need for digital reform, Ozturkler stated that in this context the services “for issuing identity cards and passports” would now be provided electronically.

Within 2023, she said, they will implement the practice of issuing “white” as well as “blue identity cards” for the Maronite community.

In the meantime, in a report published on the Kibris Postasi website, reference was again made to the alteration of the demographic structure in the north.

The report addressed the question “is this country really the country where I was born, raised and live” and admits that the demographic structure in one way or another is changing. “We are in the middle of a social process of ‘demographic transition’. What is crucial is what happens next as a consequence of demographic change, not who or who is responsible for it,” the report states.

According to the same article, the growing demographic imbalance and change should be known to cause social problems, such as inequality between regions and individuals in society, the increase in infrastructure problems due to rapid population growth, and problems and inadequacies in public spaces, the health and education systems, and most importantly “polarisation”.

In conclusion, the article warns that “as Turkish Cypriots, we must never surrender to the game of political polarisation. We must not come to this point. The attempt to change the demographic structure in the TRNC through the polarisation of society cannot move the country forward”, it concludes.