Surprise arrest for remains of Embryo’s found.

TURKISH Cypriots are shocked from the news that the remains of five embryos older than six months were discovered in the Kyrenia area on Friday, after police in the north had been tipped off about illegal abortions and arrested eight people.


The remains were discovered in the area between Ayios Epiktitos after police had been investigating illegal abortions in the private clinic ‘Anta’ (Island) in Kyrenia, and included the wife of deputy on its arrest sheet.

The embryos, believed to be older than six months, were taken to the general hospital in occupied Nicosia for a post mortem. Police reports suggested that the abortions were carried out by surgery.

Eight people have so far been arrested in connection with the case and have all been detained for three days.

The case concerns abortions that occurred between 2013 and 2016 during pregnancies in which the foetus was more than ten weeks old, which is the legal limit in the occupied north for abortions.

Moreover, the Turkish Cypriot health department said it had decided to close the clinic for three months while police are investigating.  Police believe that there may be more embryos and that the case may involve women who have travelled to Cyprus from Turkey, as obtaining an abortion in that country is difficult.

According to a 2015 report by the non-profit organisation International Women’s Health Coalition, abortion has been legal in Turkey since 1983, but many women wouldn’t know it was. Access these days is very limited; a local women’s group reports that only three out of the 37 public hospitals in the country are providing non-emergency terminations.

Source: Cyprus Mail.