North ‘PM’ Ustel sacks four key civil servants, more sackings expected

The north’s ‘prime minister’ Unal Ustel on Friday relieved four high-ranking members of the north’s civil service of their duties, with one of the four suggesting that many more key figures from the north’s civil service may lose their jobs in the coming days.

The four removed from office on Friday were Ustel’s undersecretary Huseyin Cahitoglu, the north’s planning organisation head Durali Guclusoy, ‘prime ministerial’ audit board head Halil Talaykurt, and housing commission chairman Halis Uresin.

Talaykurt announced that he had been relieved of his duties by appearing on television channel Kanal Sim and said that his sacking was a “political decision” and “linked to ongoing political events”.

He added that Ustel had informed him by telephone, and that no reason had been provided, before going on to say that Ustel may “desire to enter the election process with new teams”.

The north’s ruling coalition is required to hold a legislative election before February next year at the very latest, but it is widely expected that an election will be held at some point this year.

“The government may prefer to proceed with new civil servants and new policies as it enters the election period,” he said, before adding that he had heard that Ustel is considering dismissing everyone who works in his office with the exception of technical staff.

Towards the end of his television appearance, he spoke of “allegations of money laundering, bribery, and corruption” levelled against the ruling coalition, and said that “such allegations have never been discussed on this scale in the country’s history”.

He added that it is “particularly sad that high-ranking civil servants from the UBP are being associated with these allegations”, with the UBP the largest of the north’s three ruling parties, and the party which Ustel leads.

Uresin’s dismissal, meanwhile, comes weeks after former judge Tacan Reynar had accused him of presiding over a housing commission meeting in which a land allocation application submitted by his own wife was deliberated and approved.

Cahitoglu, the highest ranking of the four, was arrested last month on suspicion of bribery, extortion, abuse of office, and illegal possession of firearms, among other charges. He was released on bail a little over a month ago.

The dismissals come at the end of a turbulent week for the north’s coalition, with ‘parliament speaker’ Ziya Ozturkler having been accused in court of coercing university employees into handing out degree certificates under false pretences and then naturalising them as citizens of the ‘TRNC’ as payback for their troubles.

Ozturkler has not yet been charged with any offences, with the allegations having been made at the trial of Ustel’s longtime close personal associate Fatma Unal.

Unal allegedly received a master’s degree from Morphou’s now infamous Cyprus Health and Social Sciences University (KSTU) thanks to Ozturkler’s political pressure and said under police questioning two years after the date of her graduation that she does not know where on the island the university is and had never attended any classes there.