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A Greek Cypriot court sentenced Israeli businessman Shimon Aykut to five years in prison on Friday for developing properties in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, marking one of the most politically contentious cases in recent years.
Aykut, 74, who holds Israeli, Turkish and Portuguese citizenship, pleaded guilty to 40 charges of illegal appropriation of property as part of a plea bargain. The charges carried a maximum sentence of seven years.
Aykut, who has been held in a Greek Cypriot jail for over a year, faces what his family and Turkish Cypriot authorities have described as a politically motivated prosecution by Greek Cypriots. The businessman has health issues that his defense cited during sentencing arguments.
Property disputes stemming from the island's unresolved division in 1974 remain a persistent source of tension in the eastern Mediterranean. Tens of thousands of islanders remain internally displaced following infighting between Greek and Turkish Cypriot communities in the 1960s and Türkiye's intervention after a Greek-inspired coup in 1974.
Turkish Cypriot properties in the Greek Cypriot south are currently administered by a government-appointed guardian under the Interior Ministry. In the north, most Greek Cypriot properties were redistributed to Turkish or Turkish Cypriot residents after the war.
The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus has experienced considerable development in recent years. Prosecutors alleged that a company connected to Aykut profited from approximately 40 properties, constructing lavish complexes along the northern coast—an area that was almost exclusively Greek Cypriot before 1974.
Aykut's defense lawyer, Maria Neophytou, urged the court for leniency, citing his poor health, advanced age and lack of prior criminal convictions. She argued his role was "subsidiary" and motivated by helping his son, who managed the companies involved.
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