Volt Europa Stands with Turkish Cypriot Resistance

In recent weeks, Turkish Cypriots have mobilised across the northern part of Cyprus to defend their rights and democratic identity. On April 8, more than 13,000 people gathered in Nicosia — one of the largest protests in recent memory — to reject political and demographic interventions that threaten the community’s future. The ongoing rallies  further demonstrate the resilience and determination of a community defending its rights, identity, and future in their own country.

This resistance comes in response to intensifying political pressure, deliberate demographic changes, restrictions on fundamental freedoms, and attempts to reshape Turkish Cypriot society by the Turkish Government along authoritarian lines.

The Turkish Cypriot community is increasingly subject to external control, undermining their autonomy and distinct status within the Republic of Cyprus. The lifting of the ban on Islamic veils in schools — while maintaining restrictions on other religious symbols — highlights an agenda of selective imposition rather than genuine freedom of belief.

Independent journalism and the judiciary, essential pillars of democratic life, are facing escalating threats. Meanwhile, the northern part of Cyprus has become a black hole for money laundering and illicit financial activities and a hotspot for human rights abuses including human trafficking. Despite repeated demands from politicians, civil society, and the independent journalists, no formal investigations have been launched. On the contrary, journalists are being subject to silencing attempts through threats and lawsuits for simply conducting their profession. This systematic impunity undermines the rule of law, poisons political life, distorts the economy, and deepens inequality — fuelling a system that benefits entrenched elites while betraying the aspirations of ordinary Turkish Cypriots to live freely and in harmony in their own homeland, reunited with their compatriots.

We condemn these developments unequivocally.

We reaffirm that the Turkish Cypriot community's right to a truly democratic life, secular governance, and protection of its distinct identity must be respected by all. 

We echo the European Commission’s call on Turkey to respect the distinct identity, culture, and democratic agency of the Turkish Cypriots and to give them the necessary space to act in accordance with its role as a legitimate community of the island.

Volt demands that European institutions move beyond statements of concern and engage actively as reliable partners of all Cypriots to empower the people on the ground to change the unsustainable status quo for a Cyprus that is democratic, reunited, and fully European — and for a future shaped by the free will of all Cypriots, not external interferences.

We salute the trade unions, civil society organisations, and citizens who continue to lead this democratic mobilisation. Volt stands ready to support their struggle and rightful demands at the European and international level.

We see the resilience of Turkish Cypriots defending their society.
We hear the voices demanding freedom, justice, and democracy.
We stand with them — clearly, unequivocally, and proudly.

The road to a reunited, democratic Cyprus is a European responsibility.
Volt is committed to working with the Cypriot people in their struggle for a democratic, just, and sovereign future in a united Cyprus.