Turkish embassies across the world will now provide consular services to Turkish Cypriots, following the ratification of a agreement between Turkey and the Turkish Cypriot authorities by the Turkish parliament’s foreign affairs committee.

The agreement stipulates that Turkish embassies and consulates will provide support “to resolve the problems TRNC citizens encounter abroad”, and that “the aim will be to eliminate grievances”.

Additionally, the agreement says, “TRNC citizens who face situations such as detention, arrest, or imprisonment in a foreign country will be provided by the necessary legal support” by Turkey’s diplomatic missions.

Turkey’s ambassador in the north Yasin Ekrem Serim reacted to the agreement’s ratification by saying, “Turkey does not see TRNC citizens as different from our own citizens”.

He added that Turkey “will stand by the Turkish Cypriot people under all circumstances”, and that the country “will not leave TRNC citizens alone anywhere in the world”.

The agreement had been signed in 2023 by Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and the north’s ‘foreign minister’ Tahsin Ertugruloglu during a meeting between the pair and both Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar at the Concorde tower in Kioneli.