Photo by
Kostis Konstantinou/TPS-IL on 16 April, 2025
Israeli Billboards Targeting Cyprus and Its President Spark Diplomatic Concern
Jerusalem, 16 April, 2025 (TPS-IL) -- Billboards that have appeared throughout Israel defaming Cyprus and its President, Nikos Christodoulides, have caused dismay on the island ahead of his upcoming visit to Israel.
The billboards show a photo of the Cypriot president under the slogan “Cyprus is not safe for Israelis,” as well as a picture of Turkish-born Israeli Shimon Mistriel Aykut, who is currently on trial in Nicosia, accused of large-scale appropriation of Greek Cypriot property in the island’s Turkish-occupied north.
The side of the billboard featuring Aykut reads, “Shimon was imprisoned for ten months without sentence. 75-year-old cancer patient.”
Aykut, a 75-year-old real estate developer, is accused of selling illegally about $44.1 million worth of properties belonging to Greek Cypriots in northern Cyprus, which has been under Turkish occupation since 1974. He is facing 242 charges, including fraudulent transactions, illegal possession and use of land, and money laundering.
Christodoulides is due to visit Israel on May 4.
Asked by The Press Service of Israel to comment, a senior government official in Nicosia said that relations between Cyprus and Israel were “stronger than ever” and that the trial could not overshadow them.
But the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation, did not hide the fact that Cyprus is not at all happy about the billboards, which he described as ” defamatory and disrespectful” against Cyprus, its legal system and Christodoulides.
Aykut’s trial is not expected to be concluded soon due to the seriousness and number of charges.
The official also told TPS-IL that a letter sent to the American Jewish organizations by Aykut’s son, Jack, characterized the trial as a case of “antisemitism and hatred of Jews,” and Christodoulides as “an antisemitic and abusive leader.” The letter also asked Jewish-American leaders to boycott a meeting with Christodoulides when he visited the U.S. in April. The Jewish-American leaders met with Christodoulides as scheduled.
The Cypriot official told TPS-IL the letter was “outrageous,” saying Cypriots “stand hand in hand with our Jewish Community, Israelis and Jews worldwide against antisemitism.”
Cyprus, he insisted, “is probably the safest place for Israelis right now, and we intend to keep it that way.”
Aykut was arrested in June 2024 while trying to enter the Republic of Cyprus, where he also develops property.
The issue of illegal exploitation by foreigners of Greek Cypriot property in Northern Cyprus is probably the only thorny matter in Cypriot-Israeli relations. Christodoulides raised the issue in 2023 with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, along with overnight stays by Israeli tourists in hotels in the north, most of which are illegally built on Greek Cypriot land or belonged to Greek Cypriots before 1974.
Israel’s Foreign Ministry has instructed its nationals to comply with the directives issued by the government of Cyprus.
In 1974, the Turkish army overran Northern Cyprus. Almost all the Greek Cypriots there were driven off their lands or fled. The international community does not recognize the self-proclaimed Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.
