North Cyprus paper may be silenced -- Signs of the Times News

Famagusta Gazette
Sun, 15 Mar 2009 16:56 EDT

The Turkish Cypriot "authorities" could seize control of the powerful Kibris Media group tonight, after claiming that the company had defaulted on tax payments.

Yesterday, political parties and trade unions in northern Cyprus staged a mass protest in front of the Kibris newspaper after the so-called Ministry of Finance sent the Kibris media group a notice of assessment for 11 million Turkish Liras in unpaid taxes.

Radio Bayrak reports Asil Nadir, the owner of the Kibris Newspaper said that authorities are trying to silence the paper.

The main opposition National Unity Party, the Communal Democracy Party, Nationalist Justice Party as well several trade unions took part in the protest.

The group chanted slogans calling for freedom of press, transparency and democracy.

The notice also stated that the government will seize management of Kibris Media group unless the debts are paid at the end of the 24-hour deadline later this evening.

Self styled "Prime Minister" Fabit Soyer said that the "government" had no intention of closing down the Kibris Newspaper, however journalists and staff are concerned that the plug on operations could be pulled on Monday morning.

Comment: Whether the plug will be pulled for Kibris, the most popular Turkish Cypriot newspaper, remains to be seen. In the Occupied Territories of Cyprus however, the pattern of "censorship, intimidation, detention, harassment and imprisonment of journalists persists", as Susan Drucker reports in, Free Press Under Fire: The Case of Northern Cyprus (PDF).

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