People born in the north to one Cypriot parent and one non-Cypriot parent on Monday took to the streets to demand that they be given citizenship of the Republic of Cyprus.

The protest began at the Ledra Palace hotel, in Nicosia’s buffer zone, with demonstrators marching to the Nicosia district office.

Some demonstrators attempted to file citizenship applications, but these were rejected out of hand, with the “association of uncredentialeds” (sic), the group representing children of mixed marriages, making a statement about the matter later in the day.

“Despite informing them one and a half months in advance via official emails and receiving their approval, today, they did not accept our request to enter in groups of five and apply,” the group said.

It added that the protest had been staged “for our constitutional right to citizenship”, and that “we raised our voices for the right to an identity card of natural Cypriot children who have one parent who is a citizen of the Republic of Cyprus”.

“While we are effaced with a state apparatus which has all kinds of tools and openly discriminates, our path is long and the process is not easy, but we must insist on using every method to gain our constitutional right,” they added.

The government had at the beginning of last year announced that Turkish Cypriots of mixed marriages who apply in the future will have their applications processed, but issues with the matter persisted in most cases.

People who have been denied citizenship have taken the matter to court, with courts upholding the 2007 cabinet decision made under late President Tassos Papadopoulos that children of mixed marriages cannot be made citizens of the Republic of Cyprus if one of their parents are Turkish nationals who entered and resided in the north after 1974.

President Nikos Christodoulides had said at the beginning of last year that “in 2007, during the Tasos Papadopoulos administration, cabinet set five criteria for examining applications and stopped examining [those which did not meet the criteria].”

“Today, applications [which do not meet the criteria] will begin to be examined,” he said, adding, “we will examine the applications made and decisions will be made on the basis of the laws and regulations of the Republic of Cyprus and the European acquis.”

Nonetheless, for many children of mixed marriages, their applications for citizenship have not been successful.

“I am a Cypriot, I want my identity”