IVF staff accused of misleading UK parents about sperm and egg donors in northern Cyprus
Wrong Donors: At Least 30 Children Conceived in Northern Cyprus IVF Scandal
Ninoda.com – At least thirty children — the vast majority of them British — are believed to have been brought into the world through IVF procedures in northern Cyprus using sperm or egg donors different from those their parents had chosen. In every identified case, families suspect the specific donor they carefully selected was never actually used.
The figure emerges from a fresh round of findings in a BBC investigation that, earlier this year, first exposed seven such cases. Now the total has more than quadrupled as additional families have come forward with strikingly similar accounts.
How Parents Chose Their Donors
Every parent involved told the BBC they had meticulously selected anonymous donors, weighing factors including medical background, physical appearance, personality traits, educational attainment, and personal interests. Yet their growing unease suggests the requested donors were never the ones placed into their fertility treatments.
Half of the thirty affected children were born following procedures carried out at a single clinic: Dogus IVF Centre. Three individuals — Dr Firdevs Uguz Tip, Dr Sevket Alpturk, and patient co-ordinator Julie Hodson — were involved in the care of many of these patients at that facility. Families suspect these staff members may have misled them about which donors were actually used.
Firdevs denies any wrongdoing. Neither Alpturk nor Hodson has responded to questions put to them by the BBC.
A Blacklisted Clinic
The BBC has also learned that Cryos International, the world's largest sperm bank, placed Dogus on its blacklist back in 2016 — a fact that casts additional doubt on the clinic's donor-sourcing practices.
A Loosely Regulated Destination
Northern Cyprus is a territory where European Union legislation does not apply and which is legally recognised only by Turkey. Clinics operating there face minimal regulatory oversight while marketing low prices, high success rates, and an extensive menu of sperm and egg donors to international patients. The Turkish-occupied territory has become one of the most sought-after destinations for British couples pursuing fertility treatment abroad.
The BBC first reported the emerging scandal in March, when a small cluster of parents appeared to have been given incorrect information about their donors. In response, the territory's Ministry of Health announced it had opened an official inquiry. However, the ministry has not answered repeated follow-up requests for details on that investigation.
Since the initial report, more parents have reached out, and their narratives share troubling parallels. Most said the clinics had assured them they would receive screened, healthy donors from Western Europe. Suspicion set in only after their children were born and something did not add up.
DNA Tests Reveal the Truth
Eleven of the thirty children have since undergone commercial DNA ancestry testing. The results indicate genetic heritage traceable to Turkey or neighbouring countries — strong evidence that the donors their parents had specifically requested were not the ones used. The majority of those who took the tests were conceived through IVF between 2012 and 2024 at Dogus clinic.
Families are now left grappling with fundamental questions: who are their children's actual donors, and what are those donors' medical histories?
"These reports are deeply troubling," said Laura Bridgens, founder of the charity Donor Conceived UK. "It's a fundamental human right for a donor-conceived person to know the truth about their origins."
UK Foreign Office Issues Warning
Within the past few days, the UK's Foreign Office updated its travel advice for northern Cyprus, cautioning that fertility treatment in the territory "carries risks" owing to inadequate regulation. The department now urges anyone considering IVF there to conduct thorough research beforehand.
Rachel's Story: From Doubt to Confirmation
Rachel, who was 39 when she underwent treatment in 2012, spent years quietly wondering whether she had been handed the wrong sperm donor at Dogus IVF Centre. After reading the BBC's first article on the scandal, she and her donor-conceived son Jonah, now 13, decided to pursue DNA testing. The results confirmed her long-held fears.
"I used to think the clinic had made a one-off mistake," she said.
But after being informed that numerous other families were coming forward with similar experiences, her perspective shifted:
"It feels like this is something much bigger and more deceitful."
Rachel had originally chosen Dogus in 2012 partly because of a "helpful and friendly" patient co-ordinator named Julie Hodson, whose function was to serve as the liaison between Rachel and Dr Firdevs Uguz Tip — known professionally as Dr Firdevs — who was overseeing her treatment. Rachel required a sperm donor so her eggs could be fertilised in a laboratory, creating an embryo for implantation into her uterus. The IVF package cost approximately €4,000 (roughly £3,200 at the time), markedly cheaper than comparable treatment available in the UK, and included donor sperm sourced from the world's largest
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