Tatar denies accusations of underworld links, taking illegal campaign donations

Former Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar late on Wednesday night slammed accusations linking him to underworld dealings and alleging that he had taken illegal election campaign donations in cash as “completely unfounded, baseless, and untrue”.

Tatar, who served as Turkish Cypriot leader between 2020 and last year and who had previously served as both ‘prime minister’ and ‘finance minister’ in the north, was named in a report published on Wednesday by news website Bugun Kibris.

The website published excerpts of an interview it had undertaken with the former financial advisor of Turkish Cypriot businessman Halil Falyali, Cemil Onal, last year. Onal was shot dead in May last year after other excerpts of that interview had been published by the same news website. Falyali had been shot dead in 2022.

In the latest excerpt, Onal was quoted as having said that “Ersin Tatar would come to Halil Falyali’s house in Ayios Epiktitos once a week, sometimes every two weeks, sometimes twice”.

“He would not come in his official car. He would only come with his bodyguard, Asim. He would also collect cash at the house,” Onal said, with that cash having been used for election campaigns and the renting of office space.

Onal also said that he had “sent a lot of money” to Kanal T, the television channel Tatar had created in 1996 and then sold in 2023.

“I sent 30,000TL in 2016. 30,000TL. I had it deposited from Istanbul,” he said, with 30,000TL having been worth around €8,000 at the time.

He added that Tatar would be provided with “however much he needed”.

“If it was an election campaign, for renting offices, we would give it to Erhan to take, or I would take it. It would be given to Ersin at the house. I would take to the house beforehand, for example. I would say, ‘Ersin is coming tonight’. I would take it there, leave the money, at the house in Ayios Epiktitos,” he said.

“Erhan”, in this instance, refers to Erhan Arikan, a lifelong member of the north’s largest political party, the UBP, of which Tatar was also a member until his election as Turkish Cypriot leader.

Arikan is most well-known for his stint as chairman of football club Baf Ulku Yurdu, and was later referred to by Onal as the man who “handled the official business”.

“He’s the one who goes door to door with a bag full of money, distributing all the bribes to those UBP members, and then getting all those shady permits,” Onal said.

Onal also said that on one occasion, the “kid” who was tasked with depositing money into Tatar’s bank account from Istanbul was arrested.

Another accusation made by Onal in the interview was that the garage space under Falyali’s house in Ayios Epiktitos was designated as an automobile museum, so as to allow him to pay less tax on the vehicles he owned.

Onal said this allowed Falyali to save as much as £600,000 in tax, given that Falyali maintained a large and expensive collection of cars, including a Ferrari and multiple Lamborghinis, and that Tatar himself had signed off on the designation of Falyali’s garage as a museum.

Tatar was unequivocal in his denial, saying that “the claims in the news report – that I was involved in illegal cash transactions, illegal election financing, giving tax advantages, illegally granting places museum status, or having any vested interest with any person or entity – are completely false”.

“These allegations are slanderous and fabricated to mislead the public. Throughout my professional life … I have never engaged in any illegal activities, endeavours, or actions,” he said.

He added that he believed he was being “targeted” due to his “stance on the Cyprus issue”.

This week’s publication is the latest in a series of articles published by Bugun Kibris, with previous articles having focused on alleged dealings between Halil Falyali and the highest levels of Turkey’s government and its ruling AK Party.

Onal had made reference to “dirty money being laundered”, bribes, and a “dirty network”, and has, according to Bugun Kibris, handed documents to American and Dutch intelligence.

At the centre of his allegations were a reported 45 or 46 cassette tapes which Falyali had kept and intended, if and when necessary, to use as blackmail against powerful figures.

Turkey’s presidential communications directorate slammed the allegations, describing them as “fictitious” and “unfounded”, while the country’s foreign ministry promised to take legal action over the matter, describing the allegations as “unfounded” and “not based on any concrete evidence”.