Former Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, who served under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, called for charges of treason to be brought against those suspected of having been involved in a money-laundering and smuggling network based in Cyprus, with those allegations being levelled at those in the highest ranks of Turkey’s incumbent government.

“Whoever caused the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, which was founded on the blessed blood of our heroic freedom fighters and soldiers, to become a land of gambling, prostitution, and mafia, and to become known for this internationally, should be tried for treason,” he wrote in a social media post.

He also made reference to an attempt his Future Party had made for a parliamentary investigation to be launched into the allegations. That attempt was voted down in parliament last month.

“Whoever obstructed the creation of an investigation committee … should be seen as collaborators in this crime of treason,” he added.

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The allegations are based on a series of interviews given by assassinated Turkish Cypriot businessman Halil Falyali’s former financial advisor to Cypriot news website Bugun Kibris regarding Falyali’s dealings with 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.

Onal was himself shot dead on Thursday evening.

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

According to Onal, Erdogan and his Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, who was also allegedly involved in the illicit business, appointed the son of longtime Erdogan ally and former controller of his discretionary funds Maksut Serim as Turkey’s ambassador in the north with the aim of recovering the tapes.

Yasin Ekrem 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”.

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.

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”.

Davutoglu had served as Turkey’s foreign minister between 2009 and 2014 when Erdogan was prime minister, before becoming prime minister thereafter. He was replaced by Binali Yildirim in 2016, and left Erdogan’s AK Party to form his own party, the Future Party, in 2019.