Democratization and human rights in Cyprus: objective measures and the populations’ perceptions

Abstract

In this work, the author analyzes democracy and human rights for the two political entities on Cyprus. Data are used to test whether there is a rift between empirical reality and perceptions of the citizenry. The findings show that Turkish and Greek Cypriots rate the level of human rights of their respective political entities the same, although objective figures suggest that Greek Cypriots live under a better human rights regime. Statistical analysis indicates that Turkish Cypriot perceptions are mostly influenced by attitudes toward the government, while Greek Cypriot perceptions are influenced by other factors.

Keywords:

• democracy
• human rights
• public opinion
• Cyprus