Striking TRNC commentary from Namık Tan: The state scandal in the TRNC also fell to Hakan Fidan

Former Washington Ambassador Namık Tan, in his article titled "The state scandal in the TRNC also fell to Hakan Fidan" published in T24, harshly criticized the diplomatic developments taking place in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC). 

AKP Chairman and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's long-trusted figures, Maksut Serim and his son Yasin Ekrem Serim, being suddenly removed from their embassy duties in Nicosia, as well as the Halil Falyalı murder and the tape allegations, were addressed by Tan, who stated: "Erdoğan and the AKP team have accustomed us to scandals in foreign policy, let's give them their due. However, even by AKP standards, the human mind cannot comprehend what has recently happened in the TRNC; one is truly ashamed."

Tan alleged that Yasin Ekrem Serim was appointed to Nicosia by Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan with a special mission, which was to collect blackmail videos. However, it was claimed that he was dismissed because he did not hand over the entire archive.

In his article, Tan included allegations that the names of Fidan and the sons of former Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım were also mentioned in these tapes, and pointed out that there has been no statement from Turkey regarding whether it has engaged in judicial cooperation with Dutch or US authorities following these developments. Tan posed the questions, "Has a request for judicial cooperation been made by Ankara to the relevant Dutch and US authorities? If so, why this deafening silence?"

At the end of his article, Tan referenced the saying "You can be anything in this country, but you cannot be disgraced," and reacted to Hakan Fidan by saying, "It seems any citizen can be Foreign Minister."

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WHAT HAD HAPPENED?

Cemil Önal, who was alleged to have managed the financial organizations of Halil Falyalı—who was murdered in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus on February 8, 2022—and was among the suspects in the murder, had fled to the Netherlands after the incident. Turkey had issued an arrest warrant via Interpol, stating that Önal was "one of the brains" who planned the Falyalı assassination. However, Önal, who was detained in the Netherlands in December 2023, was not extradited to Turkey.

Önal became a whistleblower by providing a total of 120 pages of testimony to Dutch and US intelligence units and was released. Önal, who has maintained his silence since then, recently spoke to Ayşemden Akın, Editor-in-Chief of the Bugün Kıbrıs newspaper. In the interview, Önal alleged that Halil Falyalı had bribed the then-Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu, and further claimed that Falyalı possessed 45 tapes and that negotiations were being conducted for these tapes to come under state control through Hakan Fidan.

News Source: 12punto