Cyprus seeks to end marital confusion
In an attempt to end nearly four decades of marital confusion stemming from the island’s ethnic strife, the Cypriot government has approved a bill that will allow Turkish Cypriots to contract civil weddings in the Republic of Cyprus. The bill, which is to be tabled in Parliament today, was drafted following a series of cases in which Nicosia ended up compensating Turkish Cypriots who, following the Turkish-Cypriot community’s withdrawal in 1963 from a power-sharing deal of 1960, were unable to wed legally in the Republic. There are some 1,000 Turkish Cypriots in the Republic. In one high-profile case, a Turkish Cypriot – who has requested anonymity – was forced to go abroad to marry his Greek-Cypriot companion of 10 years. And last month, Cyprus paid Kemal Selim, who had to get married in Romania, over 8,000 pounds ($12,130) in compensation and lawyers’ fees to avoid a fine from the European Court of Human Rights.
