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Cyberattack on journalists and newspaper that exposed Cyprus scandal

The social media accounts of Ayşemden Akın, Editor-in-Chief of the Cyprus-based newspaper Bugün Kıbrıs, and News Coordinator Emine Yüksel have been hacked following their interview with Cemil Önal, who managed the bribery network of Halil Falyalı, who was murdered in 2022.

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The interview conducted by Ayşemden Akın, Editor-in-Chief of the newspaper Bugün Kıbrıs, with Cemil Önal, who managed the bribery network of Halil Falyalı, who was murdered in 2022, has become a major topic of discussion.

Önal, who alleged that Falyalı paid bribes to the then-Minister of Interior Süleyman Soylu, claimed that Falyalı possessed 45 tapes and that Hakan Fidan had appointed Yasin Ekrem Serim as ambassador to Cyprus to retrieve the blackmail tapes.

Following the exposure of the Cyprus scandal, a cyberattack was launched against the social media accounts of Ayşemden Akın, Editor-in-Chief of Bugün Kıbrıs, and News Coordinator Emine Yüksel, who conducted the interview with Cemil Önal.


In a statement regarding the matter, Emine Yüksel noted the following:

“Dear friends, we will be unable to access our own accounts for a while due to cyberattacks. According to the information we received, the Bugün Kıbrıs page will also be shut down very soon. Even if they shut down all our social media accounts, we will photocopy the news and distribute it to homes one by one, and we will reach you again. 

What you can do to support us is to go to the Bugün Kıbrıs page and rate the page from the recommend section. A free press cannot be silenced!”

Ayşemden Akın announced that her Facebook account had been hacked. Quoting Emine Yüksel's message, Akın stated, “My Facebook account has been hacked. There is an intense attack on the newspaper.”

WHAT HAPPENED?

Cemil Önal, who was alleged to have managed the financial organizations of Halil Falyalı, who was murdered in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus on February 8, 2022, and who was among the murder suspects, had fled to the Netherlands after the incident. Turkey had issued an arrest warrant for him via Interpol, stating that Önal was “one of the brains” who planned the Falyalı assassination. However, Önal, who was detained in the Netherlands in December 2023, was not extradited to Turkey.

Önal became a whistleblower by providing a total of 120 pages of testimony to Dutch and US intelligence units and was released. Önal, who had remained silent since then, recently spoke to Bugün Kıbrıs Editor-in-Chief Ayşemden Akın. In the interview, Önal claimed that Halil Falyalı had paid bribes to the then-Minister of Interior Süleyman Soylu, and further alleged that Falyalı possessed 45 tapes and that negotiations were being conducted for these tapes to come under state control through Hakan Fidan.