Leaflets and transporters demanding to ‘Free Shimon’, demanding the release of Turkish-Israeli property developer Simon Aykut accused of developing and selling €43 million worth of property on Greek Cypriot land in the north were spotted in New York ahead of Thursdays’ expanded informal meeting on the Cyprus issue.

Claiming that 75-year-old Aykut has been held for over a year without a fair trial, the leaflets brand him a ‘political prisoner’, alleging his life was in danger from cancer and that he had not received the medical care he needed.

Aside from the leaflets, sources reported that vans were circulating in the area, urging the release of Aykut ‘before it’s too late’.

The campaign is said to have launched shortly before the works for the informal expanded meeting began on Wednesday.

Aykut is currently on trial for the alleged usurpation Greek Cypriot property in the north. He was arrested in June 2024 while attempting to cross from the north to the Republic.

He is the founder of the Afik Group, which has carried out various construction projects in Trikomo, many of which are believed to be on Greek Cypriot land.