Turkish Cypriot Ayios Sergios mayor Katip Demir was on Friday convicted of document forgery and sentenced to six months in prison.

According to newspaper Ozgur Gazete, Demir had “forged a municipal council decision” in 2017, and on Friday became the first Turkish Cypriot mayor to receive a criminal conviction while in office.

Born in 1959 in Turkey’s Trabzon province, he migrated alongside his family to northern Cyprus in 1975.

He is currently serving his third stint as Ayios Sergios mayor, having been in post between 2002 and 2006 and between 2014 and 2018, before being elected in 2022 with the support of the north’s three ruling parties, the UBP, the DP, and the YDP.

At the 2022 election, he won 42 per cent of the vote, beating incumbent Mustafa Zurnacilar and opposition party the CTP’s Sifa Colakoglu.

The next Turkish Cypriot local elections will take place on December 6.