Can a trip to Northern Cyprus hinder entering the southern part?

We hear many talks about the political relations and the visa regime between the two parts of the island, but most of them are tales of the people who have never crossed the border of the Republic of Cyprus and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC).

For a long time, Cyprus was a disputed territory between Turkey and Greece – each wanted to annex the island. The indigenous population here are Orthodox Greek Cypriots and Muslim Turkish Cypriots. Everyone lived and fought against British rule because the island was part of the British kingdom in the 20th century. After the overthrow of British rule, the Greeks and Turks began to share the island. As a result of the military conflict in Cyprus, two states appeared – the Republic of Cyprus in the southern part and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. Many countries have not officially recognized the TRNC, but the state, nevertheless, exists and has its laws, although it directly depends on Turkey. The Republic of Cyprus is an independent state, although the official language in the country is Greek. Because of the war and mutual grievances, the Greek Cypriots do not recognize NC. But, the funny thing is, they regularly travel to the northern part for cheap food, cigarettes, and clothes and to unwind. Turkish Cypriots have EU passports, besides TRNC passports, and also visit the south, for example, to work there. So the ties between the parts of the island and their inhabitants are very close and strong.

As for foreigners, with British and EU passports, they can travel from one part to the other every day and use any airport on any part of the island.

If you are a holder of a Schengen visa, you can cross the border between the states without problems, but you need to fly out of the part of the island where you originally arrived.

If you come to NC via Turkey with just a passport of one of the CIS countries and no Schengen, Bulgarian, Cypriot, or Romanian visas – they will not let you into the Republic of Cyprus since it is the EU territory. To avoid potential issues with southern Cyprus border guards in the future, you can request that the stamp on arrival in the TRNC be placed on a specific form rather than in your passport. Visiting the TRNC does not threaten you with future restrictions on obtaining a Schengen visa or visas from other countries.