Akfinans Bank | “shame on the bank and on the press who have allowed themselves to be silenced”

This statement was posted to Kibris Newspaper on 23rd March 2011. It has been translated from Turkish, therefore the translation may not be 100% accurate.

“Our Bank has felt compelled to issue a statement following lies and false written newspaper reports and visual news concerning the Kulaksız 5 site in Karşıyaka.

Akfinans Bank Ltd. holds the title deed for the said houses located in Karşıyaka Girne, which was undergoing construction. There are residents that are illegally residing on the site and action has been taken against a group of foreign nationals for eviction, which has come after they broke the locks of a house and caused damage to the house; they than intentionally made a statement claiming that they are the rightful possessors of the house and claimed that the locks in question were actually broken by our bank and they took the initiative of trying to make a wrongful impression to the public.

The bank immediately informed and has made a criminal complaint on the matter to the TRNC Attorney-General, Girne Police and Lapta Police. However unfortunately this matter was reported intentionally in certain press without making any kind of proper research into the matter and has distorted the matter by reporting in a one sided manner to the general public.

We would like to remind that according to the Banking Law 39/2001, Article 53, any unfounded reporting or news undertaken by the respective person which will damage the reputation or harm the bank is considered a criminal act, we therefore would like to reiterate our belief that the Police, the Higher Press Authority and other respective authorities will enforce the stipulated sanctions, and would like to inform the public that we have commenced legal proceedings against the respective press or people that have intentionally reported wrong news to the public as Akfinans Bank Ltd

Akfinans Bank Ltd”

http://northcypruspropertyhell.blogspot.com/2011/03/akfinans-bank-issue-press-statement.html

Nowhere in the world would a Bank think it was good public relations to issue a Press Statement of this nature; to use a law that was brought in with the sole intention of stopping unfounded and unfair comments about banks that would be likely to injure or cause unfair prejudice against a bank. We all know that ‘Chinese rumours’ can indeed damage unfairly, if the content of the rumour is untrue. However, are we really being asked to accept that this law was put on the statute books to ‘silence’ the truth? I do not believe that when this law was introduced that the lawmakers intended it to be used as a weapon to stop the press going about their lawful business of reporting on issues that are not only worthy but deserve to be brought into the public arena.I have observed that since the publication of this Press Release, most TRNC based newspapers with the notable exception of Afrika Gazetese have been walking on egg shells where the naming of this bank is concerned.

On reading the Press Release you would be forgiven for thinking that Ms Read never lived in her home, that it was never hers and she never parted with any money whatsoever. It is interesting that the Bank claim that the properties are in their name. Well wasn’t that also the case with the builder? the properties indeed never ever appeared in the names of the true owners, and doesn’t that illustrate absolutely what a farce the property market in the TRNC is?Shame on the bank and shame on the press who have allowed themselves to be silenced.

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