Britain, and even Turkey involved: Northern Cyprus in turmoil

A fraud and medical negligence scandal is shaking the fertility industry in Northern Cyprus, involving at least 30 children. DNA tests on 11 children revealed that their genetic material originated from Turkey and nearby countries, not from Western Europe as promised. Half of the cases occurred at the Dogus IVF Centre. The British Foreign Office updated its travel advisory, and the local health ministry opened an investigation.

A fraud and medical negligence scandal is shaking the fertility industry in Northern Cyprus, involving at least 30 children. Commercial DNA tests conducted on 11 of the children revealed that their genetic material originated from Turkey and nearby countries, not from Western Europe as promised to the parents. Half of the cases occurred at the Dogus IVF Centre, a popular medical tourism destination due to low prices and promises of high success rates, in a territory not subject to EU regulation. Rachel, one of the affected mothers, said she paid about 4,000 euros for a treatment package that included sperm from a specific Danish donor from the Cryos International sperm bank. The child who grew up looked completely different from the profile described, and genetic testing confirmed that the connection to the Danish donor did not exist. It also emerged that Cryos had never shipped sperm samples to the clinic and had even blacklisted it as early as 2016. At the center of the affair are the clinic's director, Dr. Şevket Alptürk, senior physician Dr. Firdevs Oğuz Tip, and patient coordinator Julie Hudson. While Alptürk and Hudson refused to comment, Dr. Firdevs denied any connection to the deception. The British fertility association reacted with shock, the British Foreign Office updated its travel advisory, and the local health ministry opened an official investigation.