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By Kyriacos Kiliaris A heated discussion was ignited in the Turkish Cypriot community after the imprisonment of a young woman for having an illegal abortion. The incident also caused an uproar among feminist activists and groups who have raised their voice against the court’s decision. The young Turkish Cypriot woman was imprisoned for ending her pregnancy after the 10 week period allowed under the regulations. The court found her guilty of ending her pregnancy in an illegal manner in the 17th week, while “there was no health reason to justify such a deed,” as the judge declared. The discussion was transferred to the assembly hall with the women assembly members of the main opposition party, the Turkish Republican Party (CTP), coming down hard on the relevant regulation demanding that it changes. Dogus Derya, a leading figure of the CTP and a well-known activist for women’s rights, while talking at the assembly said that she found the decision to sentence the youn...

By Kyriacos Kiliaris By Kyriacos Kiliaris A Kyrenia court has sentenced to nine months imprisonment a young Turkish Cypriot woman for ending her pregnancy after the 10 week period allowed by the regulations. The court found Melis Akcal guilty of ending her pregnancy in an illegal manner in the 17th week, while there was no health reason to justify such a deed. The abortion was carried out in the Kyrenia Ada Hospital back in 2014. Judge Mesut Mesutoglu, while reading the sentence also stressed that the abortion was carried out without the knowledge and approval of her fiancé who was the father of the child. Mesutoglu said that the crime that Akcal was charged with, could bring about an imprisonment of up to seven years, however the court took in mind that the culprit has a clean criminal record and sentenced Akcal to only nine months imprisonment. After the reading of the decision by the judge, both her father and mother were taken to hospital as they had fainted i...