Afrika newspaper finally change name and logo to Avrupa and donkey

The owner and chief editor of Afrika newspaper, Sener Levent has finally changed the name and logo of the news paper from Afrika to Avrupa and monkey to donkey respectively.

The changes were made on Thursday headline with the ‘Oh, we donkeys’ following criticism that the use of an ape on it's logo were racist.

The newspaper's new logo is a thinking donkey which the paper say it represents “everything we have been through, will go through and our country’s wretched condition.”

The paper wrote that they were back to the beginning of the adventure that started around 23 years ago.

We did not make any progress…The right-wing politicians could not accept Avrupa and the left Afrika. Bombs and bullets came from the right-wing, animosity and hatred from the left, it said.

Avrupa (Europe) was the news paper's initial name when it was first established in September 1997. It was forced to stop  its circulation on December 14, 2001 following a lawsuit filed against it by former Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash. A day later the name was changed to Afrika.

Sener Levent on Saturday last week announced that he will rename the newspaper following barage of criticism he received from African students in the TRNC lead by VOIS cofounder, Emmauel Achiri who labled the paper as racist for using a monkey on its masthead. 

The paper said on Thursday they were carrying on as Avrupa without making any concessions from the principles which they have been defending.

We are bidding farewell to Afrika and our belloved ape. Instead, we now have a thinking donkey as the paper’s logo, the paper said.

The donkey is the logo for the US Democrat party but it is also a symbol closer to home for Cyprus through the famed Cypriot donkeys that roam free in many parts of the north. 

Rauf Denktash once said the only real Cypriots in Cyprus were the donkeys.