Kıbrıs Postası
Online news outlet Kıbrıs Postası is owned by CityPress Yayıncılık Ltd, which was founded by Turkish Cypriot businessman Polat Alper.
The shareholders of CityPress are Alper (75%) and Last Digital Ltd (25%), a company majority owned by Alper, with 1% belonging to his son Alper Polat Alper. Last Digital offers web hosting and web design services.
Kıbrıs Postası told CIReN in an email that Last Digital is not a shareholder, but that Alper owns the paper (99%) via CityPress.
Kıbrıs Gazetesi
Legacy newspaper Kıbrıs Gazetesi, and its affiliated English-language newspaper Cyprus Today, are owned by Kıbrıs Yeşil Vatan Medya Ltd since 2022. The company’s shareholders are Enerji Ateşin (51%), and Fatih Büyüktopçu (49%), a Turkish businessman, who obtained Turkish Cypriot citizenship in May 2023 as an investor.
Büyüktopçu is closely linked to AKSA Enerji, the only private energy company in northern Cyprus.
AKSA’s parent company, Kazancı Holding, purchased from Büyüktopçu the Turkish company KONİ İnşaat in 2010, where Büyüktopçu remains the chairman of the board of directors, according to the company website. Records also show AKSA salary payments to Büyüktopçu until 2014 2018, and corporate documents note his family relationship to Şaban Cemil Kazancı, the CEO of AKSA.
AKSA announced last year that it signed an agreement with the Turkish Cypriot administration to build a submarine power cable between Turkey and Cyprus. The administration has pledged to get power exclusively through this cable once it is operational.
Haber Kıbrıs
Online news outlet Haber Kıbrıs is owned by Haber Kıbrıs Medya Danışmanlık ve Matbaacılık Ltd., a company owned by Halil Başaran (50%) and Kemal Şentürkler (50%).
Şentürkler is an attorney, and according to his law office website specialises in commercial, company and tourism law.
Başaran is currently a director at Akgünler Turizm Ltd. and works for Cyprobus – both companies under the DMG Group, a corporate giant in northern Cyprus that belongs to the Çağıner family. According to the company’s website, it has interests in tourism, trade, education, agriculture and real estate.
Başaran was also director at Cyprus Premier Holidays Ltd., a UK company owned by Dimağ Çağıner, the president of the Cyprus Turkish Hoteliers Association – a business group promoting the interests of the hospitality industry.
Diyalog
Diyalog newspaper, its affiliated television channel TV2020, and radio channel Diyalog FM are owned by Kıbrıs Diyalog Yayıncılık Ltd. The company’s shareholders include the paper’s editor-in-chief Reşat Ergül Akar (9%), with the rest of the shareholders linked to Net Holding A.Ş., a Turkish company operating in the gambling, hospitality, and real estate sectors.
Kıbrıs Diyalog Yayıncılık Ltd. shareholder Demtur Travel Limited (19%) is a related party in Net Holding, according to its financial statements; Süha Türköz (17.6%), is a former Turkish Cypriot politician, who was on the board of directors of Merit Turizm Yatırım ve İşletmeleri AŞ, a subsidiary of Net Holding; İsmail Kırtay (20%) is on the board of directors of Merit Turizm and Net Holding; Sertuğ Aptullah Gülcan (20%) is on the board of directors of Merit Turizm; Elite Development and Management Limited (14.4%) is a Net Holding subsidiary.
Another company by the name Kıbrıs Diyalog Gazetecilik LTD appears to be connected to the newspaper. The majority shareholder is Merit Kıbrıs Turizm Limited (87.5%), an affiliate of Merit Turizm, a subsidiary of Net Holding. The other shareholders are the editor Reşat Ergül Akar (5%) and Besim Tibuk (7.5%), the founder of Turkey’s Liberal Democratic Party and majority shareholder and chairman of Net Holding A.Ş.
Net Holding owns eight Merit brand hotels and casinos in the northern part of Cyprus.
Gündem Kıbrıs
Popular online news portal Gündem Kıbrıs appears to be owned by a similarly named company, Kıbrıs Gündem Yatırım LTD. Its majority owner is Erhan Arıkan (99%), who was named “media coordinator” of Gündem Kıbrıs in August 2022. One percent is owned by Turkish citizen Murat Demirtaş.
Records show that Arıkan receives salary payments from Flyoil Trading LTD, a company owned by Turkish Cypriot businessman Halil Falyalı, according to court testimony. Falyalı was indicted in the US for money laundering in connection with drug trafficking in 2016, and was murdered in a mafia-style ambush in 2022, along with a driver named Murat Demirtaş.
Gündem Kıbrıs’s editors have referenced Falyalı in published columns and public posts in a way that indicates that he was a benefactor.
The US indictment against Falyalı was dismissed “without prejudice” in March 2022.
Gıynık Gazetesi
Online news outlet Gıynık Gazetesi is owned by Gıynık Gazetesi Ltd., whose majority shareholder is Bilbay Eminoğlu (99%).
Eminoğlu is a former entertainment journalist and the current editor-in-chief.
One percent is owned by Ferhal Karakuş, a Turkish Cypriot national. The paper employs an advertising manager by the same name.
Kıbrıs Manşet
Popular news site Kıbrıs Manşet lists on its website a London address and an individual named Mükerrem Dinç as beneficial owner and editor-in-chief.
Records show that until 2022 the media’s website was registered to Ziya Emir, a former Turkish Cypriot politician with the Democratic Party. Emir is the current director of the Ziya Emir Group, which according to archives from its website operated in “media, publishing, advertising, production, LED Screens, real estate construction and development and many other fields.” Emir is also registered as the owner of five UK companies, operating in publishing, car sales, agricultural machinery, travel and real estate.
Yenidüzen
Yenidüzen newspaper is owned by Yenidüzen Ltd., whose shareholders include journalists Cenk Mutluyakalı (10%) and Mert Özdağ (10%). Mutluyakalı is the paper’s previous general manager, and Özdağ is the paper’s current general manager and editor-in-chief.
The rest of the shareholders are former or current politicians from the main Turkish Cypriot opposition Republican Turkish Party (CTP).
Ahmet Oktay Kayalp (10%) was previously the Turkish Cypriot Famagusta mayor and district chair; Özker Özgür (10%) held public office in the Turkish Cypriot administration in the 1990s; Okan Dağlı (10%) was previously a member of the Turkish Cypriot assembly; Sami Özuslu (10%), Ürün Solyalı (10%) and Ongun Talat (10%) are current members of Turkish Cypriot assembly; Sibel Sorakın (10%) and Şenay Ekingen (10%) have held various positions within the Republican Turkish Party.
Havadis Kıbrıs
Online newspaper Havadis Kıbrıs is not registered under that name and has no ownership information on its web page.
The paper was co-founded by Başaran Düzgün and Hüseyin Ekmekçi in 2009.
Records show that journalists known to work for Havadis Kıbrıs receive salaries from DBH Investment Ltd., FASLİ Investment Ltd. and Adis Yayıncılık Ltd.
Adis Yayıncılık Ltd. is co-owned by Hasan Düzgün (20%), Niyazi Düzgün (20%), Nihal Düzgün (20%), Önder Ekmekçi (20%), and Adem Hoca (20%).
DBH Investment Ltd is co-owned by Barış Gerçek (46.7%) and Hasan Düzgün (53.3%).
FASLİ Investment Ltd. is co-owned by Öntaç Düzgün (34%), Deniz Düzgün (33%) and Hasan Düzgün (33%).
Detay Kıbrıs
Online news outlet Detay Kıbrıs is owned by Detay Haber Medya Yayıncılık Grubu, according to its website. The company’s shareholders included Erkut Yılmabaşar (50%), the paper’s general manager, general coordinator and director, and columnist Taner Ulutaş (50%).
Another company, İnce Detay Kıbrıs Grafik Basın Yayın Ltd., appears to also be connected with the newspaper. Its shareholders are Yılmabaşar (25%), Ulutaş (25%), and journalists Mehmet Eş (25%) and Oshan Sabırlı (25%).
Londra Gazete
The Turkish and English language newspaper Londra Gazete is registered in the UK and has two shareholders: Yeşim Özyiğit and Yılmaz Özyiğit, who is also the paper’s manager.
Yılmaz Özyiğit told CIReN that Evrim Özyiğit is also a shareholder, and that it is “a family company and our own investment.”
Halkın Sesi Kıbrıs
Halkın Sesi Kıbrıs, a newspaper established in 1942 by then-Turkish Cypriot leader Fazıl Küçük, is owned by his granddaughter Nilsen Küçük through the company H.S.G Generation Digital Journalism Ltd.
Architect Yusuf Özerdem holds a small share (0.002%).
Bugün Kıbrıs
Online news outlet Bugün Kıbrıs is owned by OMN Cyprus Medya ve Yayıncılık. Records show that this is a trade name registered to journalist Ayşemden Akın, who is the paper’s editor-in-chief.
Akın told CIReN that she is the sole owner, with no other investors.
Kıbrıs Genç
Popular TV channel Kıbrıs Genç TV is owned by Birinci Medya Kurumu Ltd., which is co-owned by Turkish Cypriot businessman Ertan Birinci (20%).
Birinci is the chairman of the executive board of Birinci Global and Onbeş Kasım Kıbrıs University, which is owned by Birinci Global. In addition to media and education, the company operates in tourism, digital, fuel, fast moving consumer goods and retail sectors, according to its website.
Other shareholders include Turkish nationals Kadri Önel (20%) and Mehmet Koral Sarıtaş (20%), and Birinci’s family members Hasan Ratip Birinci (15%), Küfi Birinci (10%) and Mehmet Birinci (10%). Journalist Ali Kurtoğlu owns 5 percent.
Star Kıbrıs
The daily news outlet Star Kıbrıs, and its TV channel Ada TV are owned by Star (Kıbrıs) Televizyon Yayıncılık Limited, which is co-owned by Turkish Cypriot businessman Ali Özmen Safa (20%).
Safa owns The Safa Group, which lists its interests in northern Cyprus and Turkey, specifically in “the media sector, the development of holiday resorts, hotels and casinos, and the environment with the desalination of the sea into usable water.” Safa also owns Summerswood Land Limited, a UK company buying and selling real estate.
Other Star (Kıbrıs) Televizyon Yayıncılık Limited shareholders are Turkish citizens Ethem Sancak (20%), Hasan Doğan(20%), İkram Erzik (20%) and Nasrullah İşbilir (20%).
Bağımsız Gazete
Online newspaper Bağımsız Gazete, which is part of Bağımsız Medya Grubu, appears to be owned by Kıbrıs Bağımsız Medya Ltd., the company listed by the Turkish Cypriot television and radio authority as owner of Bağımsız Web TV.
Its shareholders include Burak Taner Yücel (25%) and NSA Trading Limited (75%).
NSA Trading Limited is owned by Turkish Cypriot businessman Niyazi Şanal (99.9%), who also owns AKOL Development Limited, a construction company that develops tourist and residential luxury properties in northern Cyprus.
In December 2023, Bağımsız Medya purchased the TV channel Kanal T from Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar for 500,000 GBP, according to a press announcement by Ersin Tatar’s wife, Sibel Tatar.