Erdogan, Fidan, and Yildirim accused of ‘filthy’ Cyprus-based corruption by opposition leader

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, and former prime minister Binali Yildirim were all accused of partaking in “filthy” corruption in northern Cyprus, linked to assassinated Turkish Cypriot businessman Halil Falyali, by opposition political party CHP leader Ozgur Ozel on Wednesday.

Ozel was speaking in parliament about allegations made by Falyali’s former financial director Cemil Onal to Cypriot news website Bugun Kibris on Tuesday regarding his former boss’ dealings with the highest levels of Turkey’s government and its ruling AK Party.

Some of these dealings, Onal had said, were related to the Serim family, comprising father Maksut Serim, who managed Erdogan’s discretionary funds, and sons Yasin Ekrem Serim, Turkey’s former ambassador in the north, and Ibrahim Serim, a businessman and naturalised citizen of the ‘TRNC’.

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, but on Tuesday focused on the Serim family.

He spoke of how Ibrahim Serim was “very close” to Ali Murat Basceri, Turkey’s current ambassador in the north who also served between 2018 and 2022, and that through Serim’s mutual relationship, a “protective armour” was formed for the Falyali family.

Meanwhile, he said, Ibrahim Serim built multiple buildings in Cyprus in areas which had been originally closed to development and made “serious profits” from them.

Falyali would also reportedly buy properties from the Serim family at vastly inflated prices in exchange for “political and bureaucratic protection”.

However, Falyali himself was also an apparent keeper of cassette tapes which he intended, if and when necessary, to use as blackmail against powerful figures.

One alleged such file was released in October 2021, the day after Falyali was arrested on suspicion of assaulting an employee. The file was a video of the north’s then ‘prime minister’ Ersan Saner engaging in obscene acts on a webcam and was leaked to the media by Turkish mafia boss Sedat Peker.

Peker’s adviser Emre Olur had claimed that Peker had obtained the footage from Falyali, while Peker himself had claimed that a drugs ring involving Yildirim’s son Erkam Yildirim was laundering money via Falyali.

Yasin Ekrem Serim was at the same time a rising star in the Turkish foreign ministry, and, according to Onal, his presence enabled a friendship to form between Fidan’s son Halit Fidan and Halil Falyali’s brother Husnu Falyali.

Onal said that Serim’s rise also gave Fidan the idea of sending him to Cyprus with the aim of recovering Falyali’s tapes to be kept in the custody of the Turkish state. 

Serim was appointed as ambassador last summer and, according to Onal, told, “get those tapes and bring them back, that is how you will rise in the state”.

Onal had said Serim’s first order of business upon arriving in Cyprus was to change all the security personnel around him, before setting to work recovering the tapes.

However, it has been reported that while Turkey’s National intelligence organisation (Mit) had discovered that there were a total of 45 or 46 such tapes, Serim only recovered 40, and kept the other five for himself.

Hakan Fidan then reportedly forwarded the tapes to Mit head Ibrahim Kalin, who informed Erdogan of the situation. The contents of the missing tapes are not known, but it has been claimed that Erkam Yildirim and Halit Fidan are both mentioned.

Onal said Erdogan then summoned Yasin Ekrem Serim to Ankara to ask him about the missing tapes, with Maksut Serim then stepping in to defend his son.

Erdogan then reportedly told Maksut Serim that he would “fully investigate” whether the rest of the tapes existed, and told his son, “I trust you because of your father. If there are any missing tapes, go and get them, but I am removing you from the embassy, and removing your father from his duty”.

Rumours first surfaced that Serim would be sacked on February 4, and he was officially relieved of his duties three and a half weeks later on February 28 after Ozgur Ozel had first alleged that the Serim family, the Falyali family, and Erdogan were acting in league with one another and potentially involved in criminal activity.

Ozel on Wednesday said he had asked Erdogan about the contents of Onal’s allegations and other related stories, and that Erdogan had “remained silent” and “did not say anything”.

“Who is this Ekrem Serim? His father Maksut Serim has been in charge of Erdogan’s purse strings since he was Istanbul mayor [between 1994 and 1998]. He is the person who managed his discretionary funds when Erdogan was prime minster and president and his son became deputy foreign minister and then ambassador to Cyprus. Then, on the day I spoke up, he was hastily removed from the post,” he said.

He went on to say that while Erdogan had not spoken on the matter, Onal “explained every detail one by one” and “confirmed what I had said and much more”.

“It turns out that Hakan Fidan is involved in this business. Binali Yildirim is involved in this business. The children of these friends, these politicians, the previous prime minister, the current foreign minister, are involved in this business. There are 45 tapes, 40 have been seized, five have been left hanging,” he said.

He also made reference to the alleged “large amounts of money coming and going from an account in England”, allegedly linked to Yasin Ekrem Serim’s former status as a director of a UK-based company named “Dammax UK Limited”, which allegedly dealt with the proceeds of property deals in the north.

“Everything came out in Cyprus. It is unbelievable, unbelievable what came out. What they call a ‘big turnip’, well, the turnip is almost as big as Cyprus itself. And in it are 45 tapes of which Ibrahim Kalin is also aware, 40 of them are in hand, five are somewhere,” he added, before criticising the government’s decision to appoint Yasin Ekrem Serim to the various posts he has held.

“Mr Erdogan, if I were to assign someone who is not a professional, who has no experience, as the foreign minister’s private secretary, then as deputy foreign minister, then as ambassador to Cyprus, the apple of our eye, I would be ashamed.

“Hakan Fidan’s son says this to this person. Binali Yildirim’s son says that to that person. I would be ashamed to say these things here. I am not Erdogan. The person who will call anyone a thief and say something based on the slander of false witnesses before the accusations are finalised is Erdogan. All the filth has been exposed here.”