There has been “no change” to the rules governing Cyprus’ crossing points, the police said on Tuesday, amid rumours that the Republic of Cyprus had banned Turkish Cypriots from crossing with identity cards issued by the ‘TRNC’.

A police spokesman told the Cyprus Mail that those rumours were not true and that the rules governing which documents Turkish Cypriots can use to cross between the island’s two sides, including those issued by the ‘TRNC’, remain unchanged.

The only small change, the spokesman added, is that the Republic’s police are now manually recording information present on ‘TRNC’-issued identity cards presented by crossing Turkish Cypriots.

He said that this in some cases leads to delays compared to before and compared to the time taken for a Turkish Cypriot or any other European Union citizen to cross using an identity card issued by the Republic of Cyprus or another EU member state.

This is because in most cases, those identity cards can be scanned at the Republic’s crossing point booths and the information present on them automatically recorded, whereas ‘TRNC’-issued identity cards cannot be scanned.