'The mafia has moved from Turkey to Northern Cyprus'

Click to read the article in Turkish

A journalist in Northern Cyprus has said that President Ersin Tatar has denied any financial support from Halil Falyalı, a casino boss who was assassinated on February 8.

A US court in 2016 issued an arrest warrant against Falyalı in a case concerning drug trafficking and money laundering. Falyalı had reportedly not left the northern part of the island since then to avoid arrest. In his online confessions, exiled mafia boss Sedat Peker had described Falyalı as a "key actor" in drug trafficking between South America and the Middle East.

Ersin Tatar, the president of Northern Cyprus, mourned Falyalı's death on social media, saying, "I want to share my sorrow, he was an esteemed brother, he invested in this country."

Cenk Mutluyakalı, the editor-in-chief of the Cyprus-based Yenidüzen newspaper, has said that the president called him after his statements about the issue during a live broadcast on Halk TV.

"You have disgraced me in Turkey. I didn't get a single lira from Halil Falyalı, he is not my financier whatsoever," the president told the journalist, according to his article published yesterday (February 13).

During the program in question, Mutluyakalı had said, "We have been seeing the president with Halil Faluyalı for years. These people were already in a very close relationship."

Tatar further told him that there was no evidence to support his statement that Falyalı "was a financier of national politics, including the presidential election," according to the article.

"The dangerous backyard of Turkey"

The journalist noted Tatar is more concerned about criticism against him in Turkey than Cyprus.

"Those who are the most responsible for us hitting the rock bottom are the political elites and the ruling power in Turkey, who have effective and de facto control of [Northern Cyprus]. Not only the AKP [Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party], it was the same before...

"Sometimes military, sometimes civilian tutelage has always been active here. With a total conqueror mentality, half of the island has been kept out of international politics, economy and culture.

"There has been a single focus; 'Turkifying' half (of) Cyprus and constructing a new culture, identity, and memory by considering elements of the Cyprus identity as others.

"The structure called the KKTC [Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus] has turned into a dangerous backyard. The mafia has moved from Turkey to Cyprus," he wrote, adding that mafia groups owned hotels and casinos in northern Cyprus. (RT/VK)