Falyalı murder had been planned ‘in September’
THE assassination of Turkish Cypriot businessman Halil Falyalı, who was gunned down in his car in Çatalköy on February 8, was initially scheduled for last September, it has been claimed.
According to Turkey’s Sabah newspaper, the initial plan was foiled after Falyalı “got himself arrested”.
The allegations surfaced after five men – Mustafa Söylemez, Cengiz Şener, Abdurrahim Çelik, Ender Yıldız, and Mehmet Faysal Söylemez – were arrested in Turkey by the İstanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office in connection with the murder, having each been accused of playing a role in the planning and execution of the killing.
Reports suggested that Mr Falyalı’s assassination was intricately planned, with many different people playing various roles in it.
It appears to have been established that Mustafa Söylemez was the ringleader, while reports indicated that Söylemez and a man named Ömer Tunç were the two who fired at Mr Falyalı’s vehicle, while another suspect, named Musa Çiçek, had been visually tracking the vehicle and acted as a lookout. It has also been alleged that Veysel Sarı drove Söylemez and Tunç to the scene of the assassination.
Sabah reported this week that Söylemez had told Tunç as early as last September to “be ready” and indicated that he would take him to Cyprus “within a day or two” of the conversation.
Musa Çiçek is also alleged to have indicated to investigators that the initial plan was to carry out the assassination last September.
It is also claimed that the attack on February 8, in which Falyalı’s driver Murat Demirtaş also died, had been postponed by a day after an opportunity to kill Falyalı was missed because Çiçek was “on the toilet”.
Çiçek, who apparently first met Söylemez in Ümraniye prison in Turkey in 1996, is also alleged to have confirmed that the assassination team arrived in Cyprus last September, having reportedly said: “We boarded a white boat [in Alanya] about 10 metres in length, driven by two Turks, together with Söylemez . . . We arrived in the TRNC around five or six o’clock. We jumped from the boat into the water on the shore, then we went to the supermarket and came to the house where we were caught.
“We stayed in this house for 25 days. Mustafa Söylemez never took me out . . . He did not say why we had come to Cyprus. Then, he said ‘we are going back, the team has disbanded, [they] dumped me in it’. When we returned to İstanbul, he said that Falyalı ‘got himself arrested’.”
Of the actual assassination, Çiçek allegedly said: “We went to Alanya with Veysel Sarı. We went to Cyprus by boat. Mustafa Söylemez arrived in Cyprus by plane. Ömer Tunç arranged [the phone lines between us]. Ömer put me in a white vehicle. The vehicle was parked next to the road. He said to me ‘wait here, call me when the car passes’. Mustafa Söylemez and Ömer Tunç left me. When the car passed, I called Ömer and said ‘he came, he came’. Then I went to the house.”
Sabah also included an alleged statement of Veysel Sarı, who allegedly drove Söylemez and Tunç to the scene of the assassination. It is reported that Sarı said that Cengiz Şener was the bodyguard of another man, Erol Evcil, and that Şener told him: “I want to send you to Cyprus. Will you go for your big bro Erol?”
Sarı is then reported to have said that he met Musa Çiçek through Cengiz Şener in İstanbul, before saying that they travelled to Alanya by car and waited in a hotel for the sea conditions to improve, in order to illegally travel by boat to the TRNC.
Sarı is reported to have claimed that he stayed in Alanya for about a month, before the sea cleared and he travelled to North Cyprus by boat. He allegedly said that he went to an empty house in Alsancak, before going to a restaurant with Musa Çiçek.
On his return, he is reported to have claimed that he met a man who Çiçek addressed as “uncle”, who was around 50-55 years old and spoke “İstanbul Turkish”, later learning that the man in question was Mustafa Söylemez.
Later in his alleged statement, Sarı reportedly said: “I went to buy a suit and rent a car in Cyprus with Söylemez. This was going to be done the day before Falyalı was shot, but Musa [Çiçek] could not inform us [of Falyalı’s whereabouts] because he was on the toilet, so that day [the assassination] did not happen. We met with Ömer Tunç. I, ‘uncle’ – that is Mustafa Söylemez, and Ömer Tunç – got into a white car.
“Taking directions from Ömer, I followed the road that [Falyalı] would take. ‘Uncle’ sat in the back.
Ömer was with me. There were also guns in the boot of the car. If news came from Musa, those guns would come out of the boot.
“While we were waiting there, [Falyalı’s] car passed by. Ömer talked to Musa Çiçek and got angry because he did not inform us.”
Sarı is alleged to have continued his statement by saying: “The next day, around four or five in the afternoon, Musa left the house as we agreed. I went to the Lemar supermarket in Girne by minibus.
“Later, ‘uncle’ and Ömer came in rental cars. I had the key to the white car. The guns were still in the bag in the boot. I took ‘uncle’ in the car. He sat next to me. He said ‘drive’. We stopped in front of a market in that area. Ömer also came to us in another white car. Ömer parked his car among the trees.
“He came to the car I was driving and got in. We went to the place where [the assassination] happened. At that time, news came from Musa to Ömer.
“Ömer reached into the boot and took two kalashnikov-type guns. He handed one to ‘uncle’, and held the other in his own hands.”
Continuing, Sarı reportedly said: “They told me ‘park it in the road, stop, put your hazard lights on, if the car comes, don’t shoot’.
“It was a narrow road. There were trees on one side of the road and a stone garden wall on the other. Ömer and Mustafa Söylemez got out of the car with guns. Both were wearing dark clothes and guns. They had pharmaceutical masks on their faces. Two minutes after I stopped there, a big black jeep arrived. It stopped about 50 metres behind [me].
“In the rearview mirror. I saw a bald man walking towards me. I moved away. I saw him fire a few shots into the air. At that time, I heard the rapid-fire sound of machine guns. I could not see what happened.”
Sarı reportedly concluded his statement by saying: “Then, Ömer and Mustafa Söylemez came running to the car next to me. The kalashnikovs were in their hands. They got in the car. They told me to ‘drive quickly’. I stepped on the gas right away. A little further ahead, they asked me to stop by Ömer’s car. I stopped. They ran to Ömer’s car with the guns. I waited. I left the keys in the back alley and went to the house by minibus.”
On Thursday suspects Tunç, Çiçek and Sarı made another appearance before Girne District Court, where they were remanded in custody for a further eight days to allow police more time to continue their investigations.
Police Inspector Murat Bayram told the court that new evidence had been found that needed to be sent to Turkey for analysis.
More vehicles have been identified that could be connected with the double murder, he said, adding that GPS tracking data was being examined as well as 10 new CCTV recordings.
Two more people are still wanted in connection with the crime, Insp Bayram noted, and that statements needed to be taken from another 40 people.
Of eight people arrested in Turkey, five have been remanded in custody while three have been released under “judicial control” Insp Bayram told the court.