Turkish Cypriot police chief Kasim Kuni on Monday night denied the north’s ‘health minister’ Hakan Dincyurek’s claims that the police had ordered him to not immediately disclose that a baby at northern Nicosia’s emergency hospital had died and six more were in intensive care after being fed ethanol a month ago.

Mihrimah Toymuradov died aged just 20 days old on October 26, but Dincyurek and his ‘ministry’ did not make any statement on the matter until late in the evening of the following day, with Toymuradov’s parents only finding out their daughter had died a day after the fact.

Dincyurek had faced pressure from the families of the seven babies when he visited the hospital on October 27, but told them he had not made a statement up to that point as he had been instructed not to do so by the police.

“The reason behind us providing information late is the judicial investigation. The police told us to not make a statement,” he said.

However, Kuni denied this on Monday night with the police’s budget up for deliberation at the ‘parliamentary’ finance committee.

“The police did not warn the health minister at all not to make a statement,” he said.

Dincyurek was reported to the police by former Turkish Cypriot chief negotiator for the Cyprus problem Kudret Ozersay on October 30.

Ozersay had highlighted that the family of the baby who died and the other six babies who were fed ethanol “were not informed about the scandal” and that “the incident was concealed for a long time”.

This, he said, is “a matter which requires judicial investigation”, as his refusal to inform the babies’ families may make him an “accessory” to the crime.

“We have been emphasising since the first day of this scandal that the fact that the families were not informed and that they learned about this incident from the press indicates that there may have been an effort to hide the crime and to cover the incident up,” he added.

He then made reference to comments made earlier that morning by Cyprus Turkish nurses’ and midwives’ union chairman Ibrahim Ozgocmen. He had told newspaper Yeni Duzen that nurses at northern Nicosia’s emergency hospital, where the incident occurred, had suggested informing the families, but that Dincyurek “did not find this appropriate”.

“It was said that when the babies’ situation deteriorated, the nurses wanted to inform the families, but the ministry did not allow it. This alone shows that [Dincyurek] himself must be investigated over this,” Ozersay said.

“[Dincyurek] should have resigned on the first day to pave the day for this police investigation, but at least now, after this report and [Ozgocmen’s] statement, he must resign.”

Ozgocmen also rubbished Dincyurek’s claims on Sunday that he had not informed the babies’ families or the public for 30 hours after the baby died because the police would not allow him to do so, saying he had wanted to hide.

“It was [Dincyurek] himself who was told to call the families and let them come to the hospital to explain what happened, but he did not find this appropriate.”

He added that the hospital is being operated in “an environment of chaos” and that doctors “are being forced to do many things outside their job description.”

“The whole order is broken. The health ministry is being run like a party building.”

All six of the other babies who had remained in hospital have since been discharged. Five hospital workers were arrested in connection with the incident, with all five having been released on bail. They have been charged with causing death by negligence and carelessness.

Additionally, the nurse who had put the ethanol in the kettle to boil and the nurse who had fed the baby using the ethanol have been suspended from their duties, with an internal disciplinary investigation against the two nurses having been launched at the hospital.