Supreme Court of Cyprus rejects claims of ethnic discrimination in policy of excluding T/C
In the case of Tomris Orses and Turgay Volkan Orses v The Ministry of Finance (Date: 17.12.2010, Ref. 2408/2006) the applicant was a Turkish Cypriot residing in the Turkish controlled north of Cyprus and was studying at a music academy in the areas controlled by the Republic of Cyprus. He appealed against the decision of the Ministry of Finance which declined his application for a student grant on the basis of a law (N.77(I)/1996) which restricts state provisions to persons having their regular residence in the areas controlled by the Republic. The applicant argued that the rejection of his application was contrary to article 28 of the Constitution; that the law on which the Ministry’s decision was based is unconstitutional as it introduces unlawful discrimination against a certain group of citizens, in this case the Turkish Cypriots; and asked that the legislative provision restricting entitlement to the grant only to those residing in the areas under the control of the Republic be deleted. The applicant further argued that the Ministry’s decision was contrary to Protocol 12 of the ECHR. The Court found that the legislative provisions had been correctly applied and that the Court does not have the power to alter or correct such provisions. The Court further found that a decision that the said law was unconstitutional would not lead to an acceptance of the applicant’s claim and thus the Court refrained from declaring the said law unconstitutional.
