On Thursday, the European Parliament overwhelmingly adopted a resolution condemning the illegal and continued detention of five Greek Cypriots in the north, calling for their immediate and unconditional release.

The vote took place during a plenary session in Strasbourg, following Wednesday’s debate.

Of the 602 members voting, 597 supported the resolution, with five abstentions. The resolution garnered support from all major political groups.

Since July 2025, five Greek Cypriots have been detained in the north after visiting the village of Galatia to search for their ancestral properties. The European Parliament describes their detention as “illegal and politically motivated,” calling for their immediate and unconditional release.

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On 10 September, an oral amendment by Akel MEP Giorgos Georgiou noted that three of the detainees were conditionally released by the unrecognised military court but remain in the north and are unable to return home.

All five appeared at a military court in north Nicosia. The police and the prosecution allege that when the five crossed in one car from the British Dhekelia base through the Strovilia crossing point, near Famagusta, only four identity cards were handed over for inspection on the Turkish side.

As such, one of the five Greek Cypriots has been charged with illegally entering the north, while the other four are accused of aiding and abetting the illegal entry.

MEPs from Cyprus and Greece called for the release of five Greek Cypriots and demanded measures be taken against Turkey, during a debate at the European Parliament plenum on Wednesday, that discussed breaches of human rights, democracy and the rule of law and a resolution on the detention of EU citizens in the north.

Disy MEP Loukas Fourlas said “this is an act of piracy, a kidnapping, as retaliation against the legitimate Republic of Cyprus that arrested usurpers, those who sell our own properties in the north, our homes, where we were born and raised.”

“Every illegal arrest is a blow to democracy. Every act of retaliation is an insult to the EU. Every tolerance towards Turkey is complicity,” he pointed out.

“Enough is enough. We cannot remain silent, we cannot turn a blind eye. Solidarity cannot be selective,” he said, adding that “when citizens of a member state are dragged before the illegal courts of an occupation regime, Europe must react.”

The Wednesday debate saw strong interventions from Cypriot and Greek MEPs condemning the detention as part of a broader pattern of intimidation in the north.

Diko MEP Costas Mavrides referred to the draft resolution highlighting “deliberate intimidation tactics” and called on the European Commission and the European External Action Service to take all necessary, including punitive, measures to secure the detainees’ release.

This mounting political pressure culminated in Thursday’s overwhelming European Parliament resolution condemning the detentions and demanding immediate, unconditional release.

In the resolution, MEPs reiterated their condemnation of Turkey’s ongoing illegal occupation of northern Cyprus, denouncing “the occupation regime’s disregard for any concept of justice, the attempted kidnapping and hostage-taking of Greek Cypriots to escalate intimidation, and the targeting and influencing of those who attempt to visit their ancestral properties or to appeal to the ‘real estate committee’ in the north.”

The situation was labelled “an obstacle to peace, stability and European-Turkish relations,” as MEPs emphasised the EU’s moral and legal duty to support the Republic of Cyprus and its citizens, who are also European citizens. They called on the European Commission and the European External Action Service to take all necessary measures, including the consideration of possible sanctions.