Former north ‘PM’ Ozgurgun’s son arrested

Former Turkish Cypriot ‘prime minister’ Huseyin Ozgurgun’s son Salih Ozgurgun was arrested late on Monday night after arriving at the north’s Ercan (Tymbou) airport on an inbound flight from Turkey.

Ozgurgun, a pilot for Turkish low-cost airline Pegasus, was photographed being led away from the airport in handcuffs and placed into a police car.

Local media outlets reported that the arrest had been made over an incident which occurred in Kyrenia on Saturday, in which he had failed to stop his car when asked to pull over by the police.

He was released on Tuesday morning after paying a fine.

His father Huseyin Ozgurgun had served as the north’s ‘prime minister’ between 2016 and 2018, having previously served as ‘foreign minister’, then fleeing to Istanbul in 2019 after 16 million TL (around €2m at the time) which he had not formally declared was found in his bank account.

In the six years since then, it has been widely believed that should Ozgurgun return to the north, he would be arrested upon his arrival.

However, earlier in the year, rumours abounded that the UBP, the party to which he belonged until he left the island, could ask him to return to the island to be their candidate at October’s Turkish Cypriot leadership election.

Adil Ozgey, chairman of the Lefka branch of the north’s largest party the UBP, posted a photograph of Ozgurgun to his Facebook page with the caption “we have missed him” in March, sending the rumour mill into overdrive.

Shortly afterwards, it was reported that the initial source of the rumour was an address given to the UBP’s party congress by current party leader and ‘prime minister’ Unal Ustel, in which he made explicit reference to Ozgurgun.

“Some names are covered not by the police but by the chief public prosecutor’s office. I am aware of this. These are not insurmountable problems. The former prime minister of this country cannot return to this country. The fact that Huseyin Ozgurgun will be arrested as soon as he returns is not an insurmountable problem,” Ustel was quoted as saying.

He had reportedly added that the north’s chief public prosecutor’s office “can overcome this”, and that “I will continue to do my best to ensure that the former prime minister returns to the country”.

“My wish is for him to return to the country.”

Ozgurgun himself gave two opposing responses to two different news outlets over whether he is thinking about making a return.

He told Haber Kibris that “if my party fell into a difficult spot, I would come back in a heartbeat”.

He then added that UBP members should “make a joint decision” on whether or not he should return.

Shortly afterwards, he told newspaper Yeniduzen that returning to the island “seems like a distant possibility”.

“Still, it is a pleasure to be on the agenda, but seven years have passed since the day I said I was leaving. I guess there is a group which loves me, they miss me, but it surprised me to be on the agenda so suddenly,” he said.

Despite this, he said, “my daughter goes to school here, my wife has projects”.

“I can come and stay if necessary, but I have no plans to return in terms of politics at the moment,” he said.

A little over two weeks after the rumours of Ozgurgun’s potential return had surfaced, the UBP moved to quell them by formally endorsing incumbent Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar’s campaign for re-election.

Since then, reports of a rift between Tatar and the UBP have surfaced, with it having been reported that he and high-ranking members of the party had a full-blown argument in front of Turkish Vice President Cevdet Yilmaz at a hotel in Kioneli.