Man shot in his left foot in Girne over money issue

A 67-year-old Turkish Cypriot man was shot in the foot right in front of his house in Beylerbeyi village close to Girne on Monday.

The incident happened at about 5:50pm on Monday in Beylerbeyi.

Mehmet AKACAN, 67 was shot and injured in his left foot in an armed attack at his residence. 

He was rushed to the hospital where his currently receiving treatment. The gun man is yet to be arrested. 

Mehmet AKACAN is the father of a wealthy businessman, Bulut Akacan.

Speaking to the media, Bulut Akacan stated that 5 shots were fired at his father and he knew the perpetrators of the attack, adding that they had received threats several times before and that 1 million pounds had been requested from them. 

Akacan's claims are as follows:

"They asked us for a million pounds. They said, if you don't pay, we will shoot you. There are audio recordings. We gave these audio recordings to the police. We had a meeting at the embassy. They put pressure on the Attorney General while I was in prison. The Attorney General called me and said to me, 'You will withdraw this case, you will also withdraw this case. "If you withdraw it, we will assist you in the assault case. They also had that case withdrawn by force. We wanted to appoint a bodyguard from the police. The police did not appoint us a bodyguard."

"If necessary, let's give these people 1 million pounds. It seems that the state will not be able to protect us. We will not defend ourselves like bandits against these people."

"They told me, "You will pay this money, the politicians are behind us both in Cyprus and in Turkey." We will pay the money. My father was shot five times. If even the Turkish Ambassador calls me and talks like that, we have nothing to do now."

Police investigation into the incident continues.