Woman slams Cyprus after mom’s death

A petition online is calling on insurance companies to recognize the north as a legal entity, following a British woman’s death in Cyprus and her daughter’s ordeal trying to cut through red tape between the two divided communities.

The daughter of a British woman who died in Kyrenia back in April is accusing a Greek Cypriot funeral home in the south of “mistreatment” while also blaming her insurance company and government for subjecting her to “vile behaviour.”

According to an online petition on change.org - "Lynda's Law" English Insurance companies should recognise North Cyprus - 62-year-old Lynda Ann Dawson from Liverpool died in Kyrenia in Apri, with Turkish Cypriot officials who conducted the postmortem offering to repatriate the body through Turkey within five days.

But her UK-based insurance company told the woman that her mother’s body had to be transferred through the south, where officials in the Republic of Cyprus would conduct a second postmortem against the family’s wishes.

Two embalming certificates

“They held her body from the 18th until 28th April with little or no contact and left me alone in a foreign land scared with no one to turn to. To date, I have two death certificates and two embalming certificates, one in Turkish with the correct date of death and one in Greek with the 18th!” she wrote online.

The woman also accused insurance company representatives of toeing the line of the division in Cyprus between the Republic of Cyprus in the south and the non-recognized state of Turkish Cypriots in the north.

She also said one of the Greek Cypriot undertakers told her they had to go through the south because of EU regulations.

“The Turks will mistreat her and her body will be refused at Manchester Airport, he also said before collecting my mother’s body,” she wrote.

In the petition, the woman also pointed fingers at the UK’s Home Office for subjecting her “to this vile behaviour” and the insurance company that “found the cheapest hell hole” with no contact.

She also called for legislation that would circumvent red tape politics, saying “this situation cannot happen to another European family. I want my mother to finally rest in peace and I want the law changing, I think Lynda’s Law is the answer.”

“All insurance companies should recognise North Cyprus regardless of their political status and they should all have a Turkish Cypriot representative ready to deal with these situations,” she added.

The company reportedly has responded to Lynda’s daughter over her concerns and complaint, telling her that there was only one provider in the north and their international partners in the south did not work with them “because the quality of the repatriations in their experience are not to the standard of most European funeral directors.”