NICOSIA, Cyprus – An EU lawmaker has asked the breakaway Turkish Cypriots to scrap anti-gay laws dating back to the divided island’s British colonial past.
Marina Yannakoudakis says she raised the issue in a meeting Thursday with Turkish Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu who vowed to repeal the law.
Although the island is an EU member, only the internationally recognized Greek Cypriot south- which repealed an identical law in 1993- enjoys membership benefits.
Yannakoudakis says north Cyprus is the last place in Europe where homosexuality is still illegal.
The issue came to the fore after the arrest of a Greek Cypriot former finance minister in the north on suspicion that he tried to have gay sex.
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