Rights of Minorities
US Department of State reported in 2010 that there were instances of discrimination and violence against members of minority ethnic and national groups. Minority Rights Grup International reported in 2011 that minorities in Cyprus faced serious discrimination and they were excluded from policital activity. The US Department of State report in 2005 stated that discrimination against Turkish Cypriots and Roma were problems. There has been some mistreatments to the Turkish Cypriots visiting the area controlled by the Republic of Cyprus.
The US Department of State report about human rights in Cyprus in 2002 said that:
"Some of the approximately 300 Turkish Cypriots living in the government-controlled area faced difficulties in obtaining identification cards and other government documents, especially if they were born after 1974. Turkish Cypriots also appeared to be subjected to surveillance by the Greek Cypriot police."
However, according the Interior Minister Neoclis Sylikiotis in an interview to Turkish-Cypriot newspaper Kıbrıs in 2011, 93,308 Turkish Cypriots already have ID cards, 58,069 Turkish Cypriots hold Cypriot passports of which 7,376 are biometric.
Read more about this topic: Human Rights In Cyprus
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