At least 30 children, mostly from British families, were conceived in clinics in Northern Cyprus specializing in assisted reproduction from sperm or egg donors other than those chosen by the parents. This is what emerges from a BBC investigation, which had already documented the first seven cases at the beginning of the year. One clinic in particular ended up at the center of the scandal: Dogus Ivf, where many couples in the United Kingdom turned to have a child, with the possibility of choosing some characteristics of the donor, starting from the physical appearance, to resemble the parents as much as possible.
The DNA test and the testimony of a mother
“It’s absolutely scandalous,” said one of the mothers involved, Rachel, who discovered she had received sperm from the wrong donor. After reading the first BBC News article on the case, she and her son Jonah, 13, underwent a DNA test: the results confirmed the family’s fears. “I thought the clinic had made an isolated mistake,” she said, but now, after learning that other families have come forward, she realizes the extent of the scandal.
The ministry’s investigation and the Cryos blacklist
Clinic staff either denied the allegations or did not respond to questions from the British public broadcaster while the Turkish Cypriot Health Ministry launched an investigation into the matter. It also emerged that Cryos International, the world’s largest sperm bank, had blacklisted the center since 2016. In Northern Cyprus, assisted reproduction clinics are poorly regulated and promise low prices and a wide choice of donors.