Ali Kişmir, head of Turkish Cypriot Press Workers’ Union (Basın-Sen) said he could be facing up to ten years imprisonment over an opinion editorial he wrote during the rise of Ersin Tatar as head of the Turkish Cypriot community.
Kişmir, who has been deported from Turkey, is facing criminal proceedings by the illegal regime in the Turkish-occupied, northern part of Cyprus over the charge of “insulting the security forces” with the so-called “prosecution” demanding a 10-year jail sentence.
Kişmir spoke to CNA noting that Ersin Tatar and the “Turkish embassy” in the occupied areas are behind the prosecution.
“They want to oppress us, they want our submission,” he added, noting that the “trial” will start on Monday.
The president of the lawyer’s association Hasan Esendağlı said in a post in social networks that he will assume the defence of Kişmir and expressed concern over developments happening in the occupied areas. “This is practice of oppressive regimes to investigate people over criminal cases because of thoughts, ideas, words and writings, we have no other choice but to resist them,” he said.
