Career
Aziz was the president of the New Cyprus Association in 1998. Although he is a citizen of the Republic of Cyprus and lives in the area controlled by it, he was not allowed to vote because he was a Turkish Cypriot for forty years. He applied to the European Court of Human Rights in 2004, and the court ruled:
Considering that the very essence of the applicant"s right to vote, as guaranteed by Article 3 of Protocol Number.
1, had been denied, the Court held, unanimously, that there had been a violation of Article 3 of Protocol Number.
1. After this case, the right to vote was given to the Turkish Cypriots residing in the Republic of Cyprus. However, Turkish Cypriots still cannot run in presidential elections and the Turkish Cypriots which reside in Northern Cyprus cannot vote in elections, even though they are citizens of the Republic of Cyprus.
