Turkish national goes after ex with a knife following Facebook block

By Lizzy Ioannidou

A Turkish national was detained by a court in the north on Friday after he admitted to threatening to kill his ex-girlfriend for blocking him on Facebook.

The incident occurred on Wednesday, when the suspect arrived at his ex-girlfriend’s house in the village of Yerolakkos.

According to Turkish Cypriot media reports, the suspect forced his way into his ex-girlfriend’s house carrying a kitchen knife he had brought with him from his house, also in the same village, and threatened her that if she didn’t unblock him from Facebook, he’ll kill her.

The woman reported the incident to authorities on Thursday, who arrested the suspect later in the day.

The suspect was brought to court on Friday and detained until investigations were completed after which he will have to appear again.

Following his arrest, authorities in the north found that the man possessed a ‘tourist that had expired three months ago.

More than 600 cases of violence against women were recorded within the last two years in the north, Turkish Cypriot daily Yeni Duzen reported on Thursday.

In response to the surge of cases of violence against women, Turkish Cypriot ‘prime minister’ Tufan Erhurman, announced on Friday that a new police unit dedicated to combating violence against women would be created, according to the Turkish Cypriot paper Kibris Postasi.

“Violence is not only physical but also psychological,” Erhuman said, noting that the creation of the new police unit was only the first in a series of measures to combat the phenomenon.

Earlier in the month, the head of the Turkish Cypriot women’s organisation, Kayad, Meral Akinci, the wife of the Turkish Cypriot leader, spoke against the normalisation of violence against women and the murder of women.

She called on the public to attend a demonstration opposing violence against women on November 25, the day marking the international recognition of the phenomenon.

 

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.