Turkish Cypriot Kyra mukhtar jailed for giving rifle to banned firearm user

The Turkish Cypriot mukhtar of the Morphou district village of Kyra Turgay Yildiz was sentenced to nine months in prison on Thursday after having been found guilty of giving a rifle to a man who had been banned from using firearms.

The man to whom he gave the rifle was sentenced to 18 months in prison.

Both men appeared in front of a three-judge panel in court in northern Nicosia, with judge Vedia Berkut Barkin explaining that Yildiz had been “party to a crime” by offering his licenced hunting rifle to the man.

She added that the man who was banned from using firearms had used the rifle to go hunting with his wife.

She then pointed out that the man had previously been sentenced to three months in prison for carrying a firearm and had thus been banned from using it, and that he had “disregarded the state’s authority” by going hunting thereafter.

As for Yildiz, she said he had made a “great contribution towards the crime being committed despite his responsibilities” as a mukhtar.

She then pointed out that there are “regulations on firearms all over the world” and that “there are legal requirements for the benefit of society and the public”.

She pointed out that Yildiz did not have a criminal record while the other man did, and said that the fact there was “no criminal intent” behind Yildiz’s offering of the rifle to the other man had been taken into consideration.

As such, Yildiz was sentenced to nine months in prison and the other man was sentenced to 18 months in prison. The man’s wife was handed a 12,000TL (€316) fine for her involvement in the crime.