Chabad Lubavitch of North Cyprus

Chabad-Lubavitch in the Turkish Cypriot-administered north of Cyprus: a Chabad house near Kyrenia run by Rabbi Chaim Hillel Azimov from about 2008; its premises were sealed and Azimov left after a 2023 campaign by a ruling-party deputy

Chabad Lubavitch of North Cyprus
Type	Chabad-Lubavitch emissary centre (Chabad house) with a mikvah
Founded	By April 2008 (Chabad-side); 2006 according to Milli Gazete
Status	Premises sealed and sign covered by local authorities in November 2023; emissary left on 27 November 2023; no later status found
Location	Karaoğlanoğlu (Ayios Georgios), near Kyrenia, Turkish Cypriot-administered northern Cyprus
Area served	Northern Cyprus
Services	Synagogue services, holiday programmes, education; Mikvah Mei Chana Miriam
Key people	Rabbi Chaim Hillel Azimov and Devorah Leah Azimov (emissaries)
Website	chabadnorthcyprus.com
Remarks	Targeted in 2023 by a campaign led by UBP deputy Yasemin Öztürk; the property claims made against it are unproven allegations

Chabad Lubavitch of North Cyprus is the Chabad-Lubavitch centre in the Turkish Cypriot-administered north of Cyprus, at Karaoğlanoğlu (Ayios Georgios) near Kyrenia. It is separate from Chabad Lubavitch of Cyprus, which works in the Republic of Cyprus under Rabbi Arie Zeev Raskin. Its emissaries are Rabbi Chaim Hillel Azimov and Devorah Leah Azimov. In November 2023, after a campaign by a deputy of the governing National Unity Party (UBP), local authorities covered the centre's sign and sealed the premises over missing permits, and Azimov left with his family.

History

Chabad-side reporting described the Azimovs as the "newly arrived" emissaries in April 2008. That Passover they held a seder for some 45 people in a hotel near Kyrenia, with its kitchen koshered for the occasion. Azimov also took Passover food to an Israeli Jewish prisoner in a local prison. He said the prison had turned him away four times, until the Israeli consulate in Ankara and Israel's Foreign Ministry intervened.

Editor's note: The Turkish daily Milli Gazete, which campaigned against the centre, says Azimov was sent to northern Cyprus in 2006. No Chabad-side source gives a date earlier than April 2008.

The centre's own website says it serves "all local and visiting Jews", with educational programmes, and that the Azimovs are "available 24 – 7". Chabad's directory lists a mikvah, Mikvah Mei Chana Miriam. The US State Department put the Jewish community that Azimov served at an estimated 150 people in 2023.

Alliance of Rabbis in Islamic States

The Chabad-led Alliance of Rabbis in Islamic States (ARIS), chaired by Mendy Chitrik of Chabad in Turkey, lists "Chaim Hilel Azimow", "Rabbi of North Cyprus", as an "Observer".

Editor's note: "Azimow" is the ARIS spelling. Chabad's directory and news reports use "Azimov".

The 2023 campaign and closure

This section separates what was done by the authorities from the allegations made against the centre. No court case involving the centre was found.

Actions by the authorities

• 19 October 2023. The Cyprus Mail reported that Yasemin Öztürk, a deputy of the governing National Unity Party (UBP), had called for the centre to be closed and said she would contact the relevant authorities.
• November 2023. The centre's sign was covered and its premises sealed on the grounds of missing permits. The US State Department names the Famagusta Municipality as the authority that ordered the sign covered. Milli Gazete says it was the Kyrenia (Girne) district governorate, which had first asked the centre for its permits and given it extra time to produce them. The Cyprus Mail says the building was "sealed off by local authorities pressured by the same nationalist group".
• 27 November 2023. According to the State Department, Azimov "departed Cyprus with his family, citing increasing hostility toward the Jewish community" after the 7 October attack on Israel. His departure followed Öztürk's calls on social media for the centre's closure and his deportation. Milli Gazete reported that he had "fled" to the Greek Cypriot south.

Protest and allegations

• 9 December 2023. Öztürk led a demonstration outside the centre. According to the State Department, a small group, including the local mukhtar, said the centre was working to build a "Zionist structure" through its ownership of "countless" properties. Protesters carried photographs of Azimov and Palestinian flags. The Cyprus Mail quoted the protest's description of the centre as "a concrete step towards the building of a Zionist structure".
• June 2025. At a press conference reported by Yeni Akit, Öztürk said that Chabad "buys real estate both in the south and in the TRNC". She said she had fought to have a "Cyprus Jewish Centre" sign in Kyrenia taken down, which was removed after a protest even though there was no official permission to do so. She also said that Netanyahu was a member of Chabad, and she denied antisemitism.

Editor's note: These are allegations. No source found shows any property owned by the centre other than its own premises, and no evidence was offered for the claim about Netanyahu. Turkish Cypriot opposition media called the December 2023 protest racist and antisemitic.

Context

The Cyprus Mail reported in December 2023 that Jews living in the north had "increasingly" become targets since October 2023, mostly over claims about land and property ownership. It described the public naming of Jewish property developers on social media, and a statement by five Turkish Cypriot business organisations calling for "the Jewish colony settled in our country" to be "controlled". The Turkish Cypriot administration then announced legal amendments to limit property sales to foreigners.

Current status

In October 2026 Chabad's directory still listed the Azimovs at the centre. No source was found on whether the centre has reopened or the Azimovs have returned.

See also

• Chabad Lubavitch of Cyprus
• Chabad Lubavitch of Turkey
• Chabad-Lubavitch in West Asia
• Alliance of Rabbis in Islamic States
• Jewish, Zionist and Israeli connections to Cyprus