NICOSIA, North Cyprus – Former Greek Cypriot finance minister Michalis Sarris and two other men have been arrested in North Cyprus in connection with alleged sexual offenses.
The Cyprus Mail reported that Turkish Cypriot authorities raided a house in north Nicosia, arresting three males: Sarris and two Turkish Cypriots, believed to be 17 and 30-something. The Mail said police in the north raided the house without a warrant, arresting the three males in connection with the alleged crime of committing an “unnatural act”.
Head of the Turkish Cypriot Human Rights Foundation Emine Erk said “unnatural act” was antiquated legal parlance for sodomy, a remnant of the old British colonial legal system implemented on the island during its colonization.
The alleged offense carries a maximum sentence of five years in jail, according to Erk.
She noted that the high-profile arrest of a former finance minister and World Bank employee in connection with an alleged offense that has been decriminalized throughout Europe may bring attention to the need to change the law in the north.
“To my knowledge, we are the only place in Europe which criminalizes homosexuality, not even in Turkey, so we can’t even use that as an excuse,” Erk said.
In the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (that part of Cyprus occupied since the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974) male homosexual conduct only is still illegal.
