A Turkish court has handed down two aggravated life sentences to one defendant while acquitting another in the high-profile murder case of Turkish Cypriot casino boss Halil Falyalı.
The case, which has garnered significant media attention, stems from the murder of Falyalı and his driver, Murat Demirtaş, in Cyprus. Falyalı, who owned several casinos and hotels in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (KKTC), a self-proclaimed state on the predominantly Turkish side of Cyprus, died in an attack that took place in front of his house in Kyrenia in February 2022.
On Friday the İstanbul 36th High Criminal Court delivered its verdict in the case.
Mustafa Söylemez, one of the accused, received two aggravated life sentences for the charges of “premeditated murder” and “forming and leading a criminal organization.”
Mehmet Faysal Söylemez, also on trial and prosecuted on the same charges, was acquitted and released. The court found insufficient evidence to support the charges of premeditated murder and forming and leading a criminal organization against him.
The court proceedings, held at the Çağlayan Courthouse, were marked by tension and dramatic statements.
Mehmet Faysal Söylemez, in a charged declaration in the courtroom, claimed innocence, stating that he had never visited Cyprus, engaged in gambling, used or trafficked drugs or engaged in money laundering or blackmail. He further denied any acquaintance with Falyalı.
Mehmet Faysal Söylemez’s lawyer, Coşkun Atılgan, accused the presiding judge of misconduct, alleging influence from external parties and threatening to report him to the Council of Judges and Prosecutors (HSK).
Mehmet Faysal Söylemez claimed in court that former Ankara police chief Servet Yılmaz acted as a courier and delivered millions of dollars from Hüsnü Falyalı, the murdered casino boss’s brother, to then-Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu. Söylemez claimed that this payment was part of a plot to get him arrested and accused Soylu of trying to suppress sensitive information through his detention as the defendant was conducting his independent investigation into the murder.
Abdurrahim Çelik, Cengiz Şener, and Ender Yıldız, other defendants in the case, were sentenced to 25 years in prison each for “assisting in premeditated murder” and “membership in a criminal organization.”
Falyalı came to public attention in Turkey in May 2021, when notorious Turkish mob boss Sedat Peker had alleged while exposing the Turkish government’s involvement in international cocaine trafficking that the drug was being shipped to Turkey from Venezuela and then to the Middle East on luxury yachts, while the profits were laundered in the KKTC by Falyalı.
According to Peker, Erkam Yıldırım, the son of ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) politician Binali Yıldırım, former minister Mehmet Ağar and Falyalı were running the cocaine operation, while then-interior minister Soylu afforded them immunity. The revenue was laundered through Falyalı’s casinos in the KKTC and on online betting sites before being injected into Turkey’s economy.
Peker had also said Falyalı was influential in the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and that he possessed sex tapes of a number of politicians and bureaucrats whom he hosted at his luxury hotels in Cyprus.