Police in Northern Cyprus say two hitmen who allegedly killed Turkish Cypriot on line casino kingpin Halil Falyalı reached the Mediterranean island by boat from the mainland Turkish metropolis of Alanya.
Halil Falyalı died in a hail of bullets on February 8. Whereas a number of folks have been arrested, a motive for the killing stays unclear, though one exiled Turkish mob boss has his theories. (Picture: Turkish Haberler)
In the meantime, infamous gangster Mustafa Söylemez arrived on a scheduled industrial flight that landed at Ercan Airport close to Lefkoşa, Northern Cyprus’ de facto capital.
Police consider Söylemez, a fugitive since 2004, participated within the killing.
After fleeing the February 8 assault, Söylemez allegedly threw his coat and footwear right into a streambed about three miles from the crime scene, police mentioned.
Falyalı died in a hail of bullets after his motorcade was ambushed by males wielding Kalashnikovs because it entered the village of Çatalköy.
The killing was witnessed by Falyalı’s spouse and youngsters, who had been touring in a unique car and had been unharmed. His driver, Murat Demirtaş, was additionally killed within the assault.
Who Was Halil Falyalı?
Falyalı owned the five-star Les Ambassadeurs Lodge & On line casino in Cyprus and was a serious participant within the native on-line playing business. That situated to Cyprus after Turkey handed legal guidelines to ban it on the mainland.
In 2015, the US authorities mentioned Falyalı was a serious participant in a narcotic trafficking operation that flooded the UK with heroin. A yr later, the DOJ charged him with laundering the proceeds of drug gross sales on American soil.
Falyalı by no means confronted justice as a result of the US and the UK don’t have an extradition treaty with Northern Cyprus. They don’t acknowledge it as an impartial state.
Söylemez was arrested in Istanbul on February 9. He’s the reputed chief of a felony group generally known as the Söylemez Brothers, or the “Uniform Gang.”
The latter moniker comes from the group’s hyperlinks to the armed forces, and allegedly, Turkey’s so-called Deep State.
Within the Nineteen Nineties, the Söylemez Brothers fought a brutal conflict for the management of arms and drug trafficking in jap Turkey by way of a marketing campaign of kidnap and homicide. In line with courtroom paperwork, authorities disrupted a plot that concerned the gang attacking a rival politician from a helicopter utilizing flamethrowers.
Söylemez and his brother, Faysal, fled to northern Iraq in 2004, after which to Azerbaijan after Turkish authorities issued a warrant for his or her arrest.
The motive for the killing of Falyalı is unclear.
The gaming tycoon was briefly imprisoned in Cyprus final October for detaining and beating a employee at his on line casino, allegedly for taking cash from the protected with out permission.
Sedat Peker and the Turkish ‘Deep State’
Turkish gang boss Sedat Peker claimed previous to Falyalı’s demise that the on line casino proprietor bargained his method out of jail. That’s as a result of he held “obscene tapes” that would incriminate Cypriot politicians.
Peker is at the moment in exile within the United Arab Emirates, the place he has been making YouTube movies detailing the engagement of presidency figures in unlawful “Deep State” actions.
A few of Peker’s claims have been given credence by The Washington Post.
The Deep State in Turkey is alleged to be a conspiratorial coalition drawn from the intelligence companies, the navy elite, the judiciary, and the mafia. It apparently works covertly to pursue a secularist, ultranationalist, antidemocratic and anti-Kurdish political agenda that it believes is in one of the best curiosity of the state.
The time period has gained recognition lately amongst US conspiracy theorists. However it was coined in Turkey, the place there’s credible proof for its existence. Covert political societies have existed within the nation for the reason that Ottoman period.
