''Avrupa'' is a daily newspaper published in

Northern Cyprus Northern Cyprus ( tr, Kuzey Kıbrıs), officially the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC; tr, Kuzey Kıbrıs Türk Cumhuriyeti, ''KKTC''), is a ''de facto'' state that comprises the northeastern portion of the Geography of Cyprus, isl ...

. Its chief editor is Şener Levent. It supports the reunification of Cyprus and espouses

left-wing Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in soci ...

values, being characterised in scholarship as radical left.

History

''Avrupa'' and the presidency of Denktaş

The newspaper was first published on 17 September 1997 using the name ''Avrupa'' ("Europe" in Turkish). It opposed the policies of Rauf Denktaş, President of Northern Cyprus at the time, as well as the role Turkey played at the Cyprus problem. This resulted in the newspaper in over 100 lawsuits against the newspaper and attempts to close it down by confiscation of its property. On 29 December 1999, the newspaper was fined 120 billion

Turkish lira The lira ( tr, Türk lirası; sign: ₺; ISO 4217 code: TRY; abbreviation: TL) is the official currency of Turkey and Northern Cyprus. One lira is divided into one hundred ''kuruş''. History Ottoman lira (1844–1923) The lira, along with t ...

s (TL) as a result of lawsuits filed by Denktaş. With the contribution of inflation, the fines reached a total of 200 billion TL in 2001. It was also claimed that the newspaper did not pay its taxes and some of its equipment was confiscated for this reason in November 2001. On 12 December 2001, all property in the newspaper's offices was confiscated and all income that would be generated from sales was seized through the distributing company YAYSAT. In addition, Levent claimed that some members of his journalistic team had been "taken to some place" and threatened by a group that called itself the " National People's Movement".

Annan Plan attack

On November 6, 2004, the newspaper's office was attacked by a crowd of 60 Turkish nationalists because of its support for the recently failed Annan Plan. The protestors chanted various slogans and death threats while throwing eggs, with the most prominent slogans being "Don't test our patience Afrika", "May the hands break of those who get in the way of Turks" and "We will make your fate worse than the

Greeks The Greeks or Hellenes (; el, Έλληνες, ''Éllines'' ) are an ethnic group and nation indigenous to the Eastern Mediterranean and the Black Sea regions, namely Greece, Cyprus, Albania, Italy, Turkey, Egypt, and, to a lesser extent, oth ...

Afrin headline

On January 21, 2018, the newspaper attained controversy in

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

due to its criticism of the Turkish-led Afrin operation, with the headline being "Yet Another Invasion by Turkey". The article included references and a likening of the operation to the

Turkish invasion of Cyprus The Turkish invasion of Cyprus began on 20 July 1974 and progressed in two phases over the following month. Taking place upon a background of Cypriot intercommunal violence, intercommunal violence between Greek Cypriots, Greek and Turkish ...

. Following Erdoğan's provocative remarks about the newspaper, suggesting that "his compatriots in Northern Cyprus should give the necessary response to this", a crowd of 500 protesters vandalized the newspaper's offices by hurling eggs, stones and water bottles. The police, who were at the scene, watched the incident and did not intervene.

Mustafa Akıncı Mustafa Akıncı (; born 28 December 1947) is a Turkish Cypriot politician who was the president of Northern Cyprus from April 2015 until October 2020. An architect by profession, Akıncı in 1976 became the first elected mayor of the Nicosia ...

, President of Northern Cyprus, condemned the attack and went to the site during the rally to request extra security for the newspaper, only to be attacked by the crowd himself. A "March for Peace and Democracy" was organized by civil society in response to the attack.

Notable staff or columnists

* Şener Levent * Faize Özdemirciler *

Halil Karapaşaoğlu Halil is a common Turkish male given name. It is equivalent to the Arabic given name and surname Khalil or its variant Khaleel. Notable persons with the name include: * Halil Akbunar (born 1993), Turkish footballer * Halil Akkaş (born 1983), Tur ...

Oz Karahan Oz Karahan is a Cypriot political activist, columnist and current president of the Union of Cypriots. Life and political career Born in 1990, Oz Karahan spent his youth in Famagusta before moving back to Larnaca where part of his family origin ...

References