‘Northern Cyprus’ warning to Zimbabweans

By
Matt Salusbury
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The flag of the ‘Turkish Republic of North Cyprus’ (right) and the only nation to recognise it – the Republic of Turkey – (left), on the Turkish side of the Green Line, the UN-administered buffer zone that divides the island of Cyprus. Image: Adam Jones, Wikimedia Commons, Creative Commons Licence

MANY Zimbabweans studying in the ‘Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus’ (TRNC) have been lured there by ‘dubious’ agents, only to discover their ‘scholarships’ were fake, Zimbabwe’s minister of government scholarships Christopher Mushohwe has warned.

Eight destitute Zimbabwean students were arrested this summer in the TRNC for armed robberies, and there has been at least one reported suicide of a Zimbabwean student in the territory. Some 3,000 Zimbabweans are estimated to be studying in the TRNC which was set up following a Turkish invasion in 1974 and is recognised only by Turkey.

Yannis Iacovou, ambassador to Zimbabwe of the Republic of Cyprus– the internationally recognised entity covering most of the island – warned that foreign students studying on English-medium courses in ‘North Cyprus’ are ‘breaking international law’. Writing in a letter to The Herald newspaper (Harare), Iacovou stated that visas, study permits or degrees issued by ‘North Cyprus’ authorities have no validity internationally.

See our earlier story on the controversial opening of an English-medium university campus in the middle of the Green Line in Cyprus.

Image courtesy of Administrator