Nightclubs shut down
MUNICIPAL officials swooped amid tight security to shut down four unlicensed nightclubs in Lefkoşa on Thursday
The move by Lefkoşa Turkish Municipality (LTB) came after it withdrew from an agreement not to take action against premises during a legal challenge by one of the clubs over a landmark 2016 council decision that it would not renew business permits in 2017 for “places where prostitution takes place”.
A test case had been lodged on behalf of four nightclubs, but LTB decided it would no longer stay follow-up action after lawyers for the club bringing the pilot lawsuit asked for the hearings to be halted.
Lefkoşa Mayor Mehmet Harmancı said on Thursday: “LTB gave a commitment not to take action until the conclusion of the court case, but there had been no progress in the case . . . [and] last week the municipality informed the court that its previous commitment was no longer valid.”
He said municipal police had sealed off the premises of the capital’s Crazy, King, Freedom and Fly clubs, on grounds that they were operating without a licence, and added: “Our expectation is to see [government] enact a legal framework . . . ensuring sex workers’ fundamental rights and freedoms.”
Deniz Kızılokgil, a lawyer for the nightclubs, accused LTB of acting arbitrarily and said that they would apply to the courts for an injunction.
Nightclubs and pubs, licensed and regulated by the TRNC authorities, are widely seen as a front for the sex trade, even though it is illegal in the TRNC to live off the earnings of prostitution.
There are currently some 38 nightclubs and two pubs, employing “hostesses” who international reports have said may be victims of sex trafficking, forced prostitution and various human rights abuses, including confiscation of their passports, compulsory health checks and limits on their freedom of movement.