Status of the Kemal Ataturk street renaming project in Paphos

The Paphos municipal council is currently deadlocked regarding the decision made in May to rename Kemal Ataturk street, located in the former Turkish Cypriot neighborhood of Mouttalos. Although the council voted to remove the current name, no alternative has been formally proposed or adopted. The matter remains stalled, with local authorities and the interior ministry offering conflicting accounts regarding guidance on the procedure. While the municipality claims to have requested official instruction from the interior ministry, the ministry states it has received no such letter and maintains that street naming is the responsibility of local government. Municipal councilor Andreas Grigoriadis has called for a more structured, institutional approach to ensure proper historical evaluation and public consultation. There have also been informal, non-binding suggestions from council members, including a proposal to rename the street after Michalis Kapetanidis. The issue, which was previously suppressed in 2021 due to concerns over ongoing Cyprus talks, remains a point of local political tension.