Turkish Cypriot lawyer arrested for people smuggling
Güncelleme Tarihi:
Hürriyet Daily News
Oluşturulma Tarihi: Şubat 16, 2009 00:00
ISTANBUL - A Turkish Cypriot lawyer has admitted to conspiring to smuggle asylum seekers into the southern part of the island in return for cash, daily Cyprus Mail reported yesterday.
Kıvanç Aktuğ was arrested by Turkish Cypriot police on Thursday after eight Iraqis, five of them minors, were apprehended by British SBA police officers as they tried to cross from the north to the south on Feb. 6.
Humanitarian care
Aktuğ ran the Human Relief Mission, or HRM, a nongovernmental organization in the North used by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, or UNHCR, to provide assistance to refuges deemed by the UNHCR as legitimate asylum seekers. Aktuğ’s job was to provide shelter and other forms of humanitarian care for asylum seekers pending their acceptance by host countries oversees.
Spokesperson for the UNHCR in Cyprus, Emilia Strovolidou, told the Cyprus Mail that her organization had cut links with Aktuğ after the HRM was closed down at the end of last year. "We used to cooperate with him, but we had no idea about this," she said.
According to evidence given in a Famagusta court on Friday, Aktuğ and four other accomplices’ smuggling operations were foiled when British Police in the Dhekelia Sovereign Base Area, or SBA, apprehended the eight Iraqi asylum seekers.
The statements given by the Iraqis to the SBA police were then passed on to the Turkish Cypriot police, who carried out a search of Aktuğ’s home. They found $28,950, 6,983 euros and a smaller amount of Turkish Liras, along with 27 passports belonging to Iraqi asylum seekers supposed to have been in his care through the end of 2008.
Hasan Erçakıca, Turkish Cypriot government spokesman, issued a statement saying Aktuğ had not been an employee of their government but of the UNHCR, and that therefore his arrest should not reflect negatively on the north. He said the Turkish Cypriot government was doing all it could to prevent human smuggling across its territory, adding that its ability was hampered by the Greek Cypriot police’s refusal to cooperate with the Turkish Cypriot police.
According to human rights lawyers in the north, punishment for human trafficking and smuggling offences remain relatively lenient.
Humanitarian care
Aktuğ ran the Human Relief Mission, or HRM, a nongovernmental organization in the North used by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, or UNHCR, to provide assistance to refuges deemed by the UNHCR as legitimate asylum seekers. Aktuğ’s job was to provide shelter and other forms of humanitarian care for asylum seekers pending their acceptance by host countries oversees.
Spokesperson for the UNHCR in Cyprus, Emilia Strovolidou, told the Cyprus Mail that her organization had cut links with Aktuğ after the HRM was closed down at the end of last year. "We used to cooperate with him, but we had no idea about this," she said.
According to evidence given in a Famagusta court on Friday, Aktuğ and four other accomplices’ smuggling operations were foiled when British Police in the Dhekelia Sovereign Base Area, or SBA, apprehended the eight Iraqi asylum seekers.
The statements given by the Iraqis to the SBA police were then passed on to the Turkish Cypriot police, who carried out a search of Aktuğ’s home. They found $28,950, 6,983 euros and a smaller amount of Turkish Liras, along with 27 passports belonging to Iraqi asylum seekers supposed to have been in his care through the end of 2008.
Hasan Erçakıca, Turkish Cypriot government spokesman, issued a statement saying Aktuğ had not been an employee of their government but of the UNHCR, and that therefore his arrest should not reflect negatively on the north. He said the Turkish Cypriot government was doing all it could to prevent human smuggling across its territory, adding that its ability was hampered by the Greek Cypriot police’s refusal to cooperate with the Turkish Cypriot police.
According to human rights lawyers in the north, punishment for human trafficking and smuggling offences remain relatively lenient.