Turkish Cypriot opposition party CTP ‘MP’ Sami Ozuslu on Monday decried a lack of progress on the issue of Turkish Cypriots being refused entry to Turkey.

At present, it is believed that around 15 Turkish Cypriots are on one of Turkey’s N-82 and G-82 lists. Having one’s name on the former means that one must apply in advance to the Turkish embassy in their country for pre-clearance to enter the country, while being on the G-82 list entails an outright ban from entering Turkey.

Neither list is publicly available, and as such, those on it generally do not find out until they arrive in Turkey.

In ‘parliament’ on Monday, Ozuslu said some people had written to the Turkish embassy in northern Nicosia asking for clarification after being refused entry to Turkey, but that the embassy “did not even respond”.

“More interestingly, the TRNC prime minister Unal Ustel himself said that he received no response when he had written a letter,” he said.

“I would like to hear this on behalf of the government: did you bring this issue onto the agenda when the latest protocol was signed with the Turkish foreign minister [Hakan Fidan]?”

He also pointed out that the ruling coalition had last year blocked the creation of a ‘parliamentary’ investigation committee into the circumstances surrounding the placement of Cypriots on the two lists.

He then referenced the case of former CTP ‘MP’ Okan Dagli, who served in ‘parliament’ between 2003 and 2009 and was then turned away from Izmir’s Adnan Menderes airport in 2022 as his name was on the G-82 list.

“What are we going to say to Okan Dagli, who was an MP before all of us and who wanted to go to Izmir with his wife but was turned away? ‘Go to the consulate, they will help’? Despite carrying a diplomatic passport, he was not allowed into Turkey and you do not even care.

“Tomorrow, you may be banned from Turkey, but you cannot foresee that. You do not defend TRNC citizens’ rights,” he said.

Ruling coalition party UBP ‘MP’ Zorlu Tore, however, defended the coalition’s lack of action on the matter, saying that those who appeared on the lists should have chosen their words more carefully.

“If you slander Turkey, make serious insults, make statements which will harm Turkey’s integrity, how much right do you have to make such statements, just because you are in the TRNC, without taking into consideration the issues stipulated in Turkey’s constitution?”

He added that personally, “I would never make a comment about Greece or any other country”, and that the reasons behind the decisions need to be looked at.

“Why has such a ban not been imposed on other friends, but on these 12 friends? We need to look at what they have done, what they have written,” he said.

He then referred to the case of journalist Ali Kismir, who was refused entry to Turkey in 2021 and also faces up to 10 years in prison in Cyprus for having likened the Turkish Cypriot armed forces’ headquarters to a brothel after it had allegedly been visited by representatives of Ersin Tatar in the run-up to the 2020 Turkish Cypriot leadership election.

“A friend from the press came out and compared the TRNC to a brothel and called the UBP prostitutes. Are you going to defend that? We need to be careful about our speech and what we write. Freedom of expression should not be used in this way,” he said.