Northern Cyprus lawmakers have abolished Criminal Code provisions that punished consensual sexual acts between adult men with five years in prison. Northern Cyprus was the last territory in Europe to keep homosexuality illegal.

Paulo Côrte-Real, co-chair of Ilga Europe’s executive board, said: ‘We welcome today’s vote and can finally call Europe a continent completely free from laws criminalising homosexuality. In 1981, the European Court of Human Rights ruled in its historic judgment in Dudgeon v UK case that such laws are in breach of the European Human Rights Convention and must be abolished. It took Europe 33 years to completely free the continent from these unjust and discriminatory laws.’