On 8 July 2026, the European Parliament adopted a resolution condemning Turkey's 1974 military invasion and continued occupation of Cyprus, and addressing the long-overlooked gender-based violence and suffering of Cypriot women and girls from all communities. The resolution, drafted by the Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality, calls for recognition, justice, reparations, and policy action regarding conflict-related sexual violence and other human rights violations committed by Turkish forces during and after the invasion, now in its 52nd year.
The resolution condemns Turkey's invasion as a serious breach of international law and stresses Turkey's continuing responsibility under international law for violations, including grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions. It calls for full reparation—including restitution, rehabilitation, satisfaction, and guarantees of non-repetition—for all victims of gender-based violence. The Parliament also urges the resumption of UN-facilitated reunification negotiations from the point interrupted in Crans-Montana in 2017, based on a bicommunal, bizonal federation with political equality, and demands Turkey withdraw its troops from Cyprus and refrain from actions entrenching occupation or altering the demographic balance.
The resolution calls for EU-wide legislation establishing a consent-based definition of rape in line with Article 36 of the Istanbul Convention, and urges the European Commission to support Cyprus in documenting conflict-related crimes, collecting data, and safely documenting testimonies to ensure official recognition, redress, and reparations. It also calls for reinforced EU financial and technical support for victim-centred services, including trauma counselling, psychosocial assistance, and intergenerational healing programmes. Turkey is urged to grant full access to official records relating to the 1974 invasion and to cooperate with international authorities.
The Parliament supports the construction of a Monument to Women Victims of Sexual Violence in Nicosia as a space of collective memory, and calls for the organisation of a high-level public hearing with survivors, women's rights organisations, and experts. Member States are called upon to set up compensation mechanisms for victims of sexual violence in line with the Victims' Rights Directive. The resolution also supports Cyprus' full implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 (2000) on women, peace and security through an enhanced national action plan.
The resolution provides formal EU institutional recognition of the gender-based violence suffered by Cypriot women and girls from Greek Cypriot, Turkish Cypriot, Maronite, Armenian, and Latin communities, breaking decades of silence and historical exclusion. It establishes a legal and political framework for accountability, reparations, and justice, placing obligations on Turkey under international law and calling on EU Member States to act. The resolution reinforces the EU's commitment to gender equality, human dignity, and fundamental rights, and has implications for EU-Turkey relations by conditioning them on Turkey's compliance with international law, troop withdrawal, and cooperation with investigations. It also sets a precedent for addressing conflict-related sexual violence within the EU institutional framework, potentially influencing policy approaches in other Member States with similar histories of human rights violations, and calls for concrete financial and technical support mechanisms, data collection, memorialisation, and awareness-raising that could shape EU funding priorities and external action.