An open secret in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) occasionally hits the headlines and sparks furor as if exposed for the first time. Then, it is being forgotten and becomes a secret again. Dogus Derya, a fresh female lawmaker in the TRNC Parliament, has exposed the secret yet again: “Women are used as sex slaves at the nightclubs.”
After banning the gambling casinos in 1998, Turkey let them move to the TRNC — the “baby motherland” — in a bid to boost tourism there. The casinos moved to the island with a bonus: nightclubs mushroomed around them for years. The tiny TRNC territory is today home to more than 50 nightclubs. About 500 women work at those establishments, which are legally allowed to employ no more than 12 bar girls. The women are brought mainly from Eastern European countries such as Moldova, Ukraine and Romania, but recently women have begun to arrive also from Africa and the Turkic republics of Central Asia. The women sell sex for 300 to 600 Turkish Lira ($150-300), either in private rooms at the establishments or outside. Special tours are organized from Turkey and air traffic to the island is quite busy, with the casino clients frequenting also the nightclubs.