Kenan Ayaz, a Kurdish activist and officially recognised political refugee in the Republic of Cyprus — a status the Deputy Minister for Migration confirms he has never lost — has been locked up in Nicosia Central Prisons since September 2025.
Had he stayed in Germany, he could have walked free on 12 January 2026, having served two-thirds of a sentence handed down for alleged membership of a “terrorist organisation.” In Cyprus, there is no indication of what the future holds for him. The Ministry of Justice doesn’t seem remotely bothered. Much less the President of the Republic, who could — indeed, should — be demanding his release.
So let’s ask the obvious question: what exactly is the problem with Kenan? The act he was convicted of in Germany isn’t even a crime in Cyprus. The Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) does not appear on the Republic of Cyprus’s list of terrorist organisations. So who is this republic answering to?
Do the people at the Presidential Palace and the Ministry of Justice grasp that they are complicit in transnational repression? Do they understand that the continued political detention of Kenan Ayaz is an affront to the Kurdish people and to the struggle against occupation they are waging? Do they realise they are doing Turkey’s dirty work — carrying out its witch hunt on its behalf?
ΑΛ.ΜΙΧ.
