Northern Cyprus Becomes Last European Territory to Decriminalize Gay Sex Monday Jan 27,2014

Turkish Cypriot-controlled northern Cyprus on Monday Jan 27,2014 became the last territory in Europe to decriminalize sexual relations between consenting, adult men.

Its parliament voted to abolish the criminal code provisions that carried five year prison sentences.

Same-sex relationships between women were not mentioned in the code.

The president of northern Cyprus, Dervis Eroglu, now has 15 days to sign the bill into law

Note

Cyprus has been divided into the Greek and Turkish parts since 1974 when Turkey  invaded the north in response to a Greek Cypriot coup

The only country to recognise the self-declared Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus is Turkey. 

Cyprus legalised gay sex between consenting adults after a ruling by the human rights court in 1993, but the division between the island's Greek and Turkish republics meant many criminal laws inherited from the era of British colonial occupation – including the ban on homosexuality – remained in force in the North

Greek Cypriots decriminalised homosexuality amid pressure from the European Union in the 1990s.