 has urged Turkish Cypriot authorities to provide full protection to a journalist who exposed a cross-border corruption network after she received death threats and her main source was assassinated in the Netherlands.){kind=link}
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has urged Turkish Cypriot authorities to provide full protection to a journalist who exposed a cross-border corruption network after she received death threats and her main source was assassinated in the Netherlands.
Ayşemden Akın, chief editor of the Bugün Kıbrıs independent news outlet, wrote a three-part investigative series titled “Halil Falyalı Lives” based on interviews with whistleblower Cemil Önal, a former finance chief to notorious casino boss Halil Falyalı, who was murdered in northern Cyprus in 2022. The series detailed alleged money laundering, blackmail and political payoffs stretching from the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (KKTC) — recognized only by Turkey — to Ankara.
On May 1, the day after Akın received a threatening phone call from a Turkey-registered phone number, Önal was shot dead in Rijswijk, a suburb of The Hague. He had previously accused high-level figures in both the Turkish Cypriot administration and the Turkish government of protecting a vast illegal gambling and money-laundering operation. Önal’s assassination is widely viewed as a political hit.
In a statement issued on Thursday, the CPJ called for immediate action. “The urgency of securing journalist Ayşemden Akın’s safety could not be clearer after multiple death threats and the murder of her source,” said Özgür Öğret, CPJ’s Turkey representative. “Turkish authorities in northern Cyprus must take swift action to ensure Akın’s protection, investigate threats on her life, and hold those responsible to account.”
Following the threat and Önal’s killing, Akın said she was offered limited police protection that consists of a daily 30-minute patrol near her home. After she posted on X about the arrangement being withdrawn, police reinstated it. However, press freedom groups and her legal counsel argue that the response remains dangerously inadequate.
Akın’s lawyer, Cansu N. Nazlı, provided documentation showing that at least three formal requests had been submitted to Turkish Cypriot police for full-time protection. Despite this, Police Chief Kasım Kuni told Turkish outlet Kısa Dalga there had been no such request — a claim Nazlı publicly disputed with written proof.
The issue has reached the KKTC parliament. On Tuesday, opposition MPs demanded government action during a plenary session, prompting spokesperson Özdemir Berova to promise that Akın would be “protected.” But public skepticism remains high amid allegations of police inaction and institutional reluctance to address the issue.
Local journalist unions, including the Turkish Cypriot Journalists’ Union and Press-Sen, have also intervened. On May 7 they held a protest in front of the General Directorate of Police in Lefkoşa, accusing the state of failing to safeguard press freedom and demanding round-the-clock protection for Akın. Union leaders declared, “If the police won’t protect our colleague, we will.”
In public remarks Turkish Cypriot Journalists’ Union President Efdal Keser said, “We are seriously concerned about our colleague’s safety. This is only our first step. If the authorities remain inactive, we will begin keeping watch in front of her home.”
Press-Sen President Ali Kişmir emphasized that Akın and her colleague Emine Yüksel had exposed “the dark underbelly of northern Cyprus,” including illegal betting and drug trafficking. He criticized the state’s response, saying: “There is no legal excuse not to provide protection. This is the government’s responsibility, not something to be dismissed with empty statements.”
The assassination of Önal, who was previously jailed in the Netherlands under an INTERPOL Red Notice but later released after the Dutch authorities denied Turkey’s extradition request, has shaken northern Cyprus. In his interviews with Bugün Kıbrıs he claimed that the money-laundering operation he once helped manage was still active and that blackmail tapes involving Ankara officials were being used to maintain political protection for those involved.
Akın, a citizen of the KKTC, has continued publishing despite the threats. Her colleagues say she is unable to leave home without fear.
In a joint statement local press organizations said: “The Turkish Cypriot media is being systematically silenced. Journalists are excluded, targeted and threatened with death — but we will not be intimidated.”
Meanwhile, the press freedom initiative Haberin Var Mı? launched a solidarity campaign calling for immediate protection for Akın and criminal accountability for those behind the threats.
The campaign, supported by dozens of journalists, emphasizes that “journalism is not a crime” and warns that failing to protect a threatened colleague amounts to complicity. It demands that both Turkish Cypriot and Turkish authorities ensure Akın’s safety, investigate the allegations that three individuals were sent from Turkey to go after her and extend security measures to the entire Bugün Kıbrıs newsroom.
The Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in response to the reports published by Bugün Kıbrıs, announced it would pursue legal action against what it called “false accusations.” No investigation has been initiated in Turkey or the KKTC into Önal’s murder or the threats against Akın.
The Office of the Presidency in the KKTC did not respond to CPJ’s request for comment.
Journalists and rights groups now fear that if Akın’s case is ignored, the precedent could embolden further attacks on the press across the region.
“In this country, a journalist has already been killed. Those who concealed the evidence were never forgotten. Ayşemden Akın is not alone,” one union leader warned, referring to the murder of Kutlu Adalı in 1996, who also reported on Ankara’s long arm in northern Cyprus.