Sunday, June 1, 2025
Nordic Monitor
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Extremism
  • Military
  • Terrorism and Crime
  • Intelligence
  • Foreign Policy
  • Contact Us
    • Give us a tip!
  • About Us
  • Home
  • Extremism
  • Military
  • Terrorism and Crime
  • Intelligence
  • Foreign Policy
  • Contact Us
    • Give us a tip!
  • About Us
No Result
View All Result
Nordic Monitor
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Extremism
  • Military
  • Terrorism and Crime
  • Intelligence
  • Foreign Policy
  • Contact Us
  • About Us

Turkish deputy minister responsible for overseas voting established a company with a mafia boss in Cyprus

March 15, 2023
A A
Turkey’s foreign ministry turns into Erdoğan’s intelligence arm with neo-Ottoman ambitions

Yasin Ekrem Serim (C) is next to Meryem Göka (L), the AKP Germany representative, in Turkish embassy in Berlin on January 24, 2023.

Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Levent Kenez

A deputy foreign minister in the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs established a company in Cyprus with a notorious mob boss known for involvement in drug trafficking, illegal betting and money laundering, according to documents revealed by the Turkish media on Tuesday. The fact that the deputy minister is responsible for votes cast overseas in the upcoming presidential and parliamentary elections on May 14 has already cast doubt on the elections.

Yasin Ekrem Serim, a 37-year-old man who has never really served in any diplomatic post, was appointed as a deputy foreign minister by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on October 16, 2022 after he had served in various advisory positions in the government thanks to his father, Maksut Serim, who is a chief advisor to the Turkish president.

Yasin Serim (fourth from left) visited the Supreme Election Board on March 10 to discuss the May elections.

Maksut, dubbed Erdoğan’s “secret keeper,” has managed a secret discretionary fund available for Erdoğan’s personal use for years. The fund, earmarked in the general budget, is a tightly held secret and used to finance clandestine operations in Turkey and abroad under Erdoğan’s orders. There is no auditing or accounting of how the money is spent, and the paper trail for the expenditures is destroyed after review by a three-person committee headed by Maksut.

Halil Falyalı, the mob boss who was killed in 2022.

Turkish media reported that a company called Northern Associates Trading Limited (Northern Partners Company) was established on December 22, 2020 in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (KKTC), a breakaway state recognized only by Turkey. The company has three partners including Yasin Ekrem Serim, his brother Halil İbrahim and mafia leader Halil Falyalı. While the company has TL 11,250,000 in paid-in capital,  the Serim brothers have a 10 percent stake in the company, which is active in real estate, construction, machinery export and import and the operation of restaurants, bars, nightclubs and discotheques. Even more scandalous, there was an outstanding arrest warrant in Turkey for Halil Falyalı at the time the company was founded.

Notorious mob boss Falyalı was killed on February 8, 2022 in an attack in Kyrenia (Girne) after Sedat Peker, another mafia leader and former ally of Erdoğan, exposed dirty laundry implicating Erdoğan’s inner circle.

Nordic Monitor previously reported that the Serim family has several companies operating in northern Cyprus run by Yasin’s younger brother Halil İbrahim. The Cypriot media recently claimed that a big Turkish construction company involved in corruption on the island was saved from prosecution thanks to Maksut Serim’s influence.

companies_house_document
companies_house_document (1)

Moreover, Yasin Ekrem Serim owned four companies in the United Kingdom together with his brother. However, Turkish law prohibits civil servants from having shares in private companies, with the result that Yasin had disposed of all his shares in these companies by 2020.

Another aspect of the scandal concerns the elections to be held in May. Turkish citizens living abroad can vote in cities where Turkey has diplomatic missions. After the voting is over, the ballots are brought to Turkey by diplomatic courier. Deputy Foreign Minister Serim, who is responsible for voting abroad, decides on the courier and how the ballots will be transported to Turkey. Given the fact that election polls predict the margin will be narrow, each vote counts.

That’s why President Erdoğan is trying to ally even with small parties with negligible voting potential. In the 2018 presidential election, there were a total of 3,032,206 voters registered abroad, but the turnout was only 44 percent, meaning that 1,335,901 people voted for the presidential candidates. Erdoğan had achieved success well ahead of his rivals by garnering 59.41 percent of these votes. However, this success is notwithstanding, the party that is exerting the most effort to win the votes of the European diaspora in the upcoming elections is again the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).

There are other indications that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs cannot be impartial in the elections. Turkish diplomatic missions are organizing meetings for ruling party representatives to bring them together with Turkish citizens ahead of the elections. Party gatherings are deliberately presented by the visiting delegation as if they are public meetings with Turkish expatriates in the host country.  

Yasin Ekrem Serim is seen at the headquarters of the Union of International Democrats (UID), Erdogan’s long arm in Europe, during a visit to Germany on January 21, 2023.

The ruling party carries out its activities in 33 countries through an association called the Union of International Democrats (UID), often described as the long arm of President Erdoğan, particularly in Europe, for mobilizing the Turkish and Muslim diasporas for the goals of political Islamists back in Turkey. It would be unrealistic to expect that diplomatic missions would provide equal service to all Turkish citizens abroad given the fact that state institutions have already turned into ruling party organizations, raising doubts about election security at home and abroad before the upcoming vote.

ShareTweet
Previous Post

Erdoğan wants to please the Gulf before critical elections in Turkey

Next Post

Turkish workers, abruptly laid off in Qatar, face travel ban over unpaid debt

Levent Kenez

Levent Kenez

[email protected]

Next Post
Turkey to train its pilots on Qatar’s French-made jets to counter Greece’s Rafale fleet

Turkish workers, abruptly laid off in Qatar, face travel ban over unpaid debt

Turkish intelligence agency MIT’s secret rendition flight and black torture site exposed

Turkey’s top court confirms abduction, torture in case involving Turkish intelligence and foreign ministry

May 30, 2025
Turkey approved concessions to Russia on $20 bln nuclear power plant amid sanctions, Ukraine-Russia war

Turkey left out of management in Its first nuclear power plant built by Russia

May 29, 2025
Turkey leverages foreign wars to boost conventional arms production and profit

Turkey leverages foreign wars to boost conventional arms production and profit

May 28, 2025
Turkey sounds alarm over declining birth rates amid economic concerns

Turkey sounds alarm over declining birth rates amid economic concerns

May 27, 2025
Turkish journalist in Sweden faces fresh indictment and trial in Turkey over published article

Sweden-Turkey intelligence swap reportedly targeted Nordic Monitor and its editor

May 26, 2025
Erdogan ally calls for mass killing of Zionists, declares ‘humanity has no other choice’

Erdogan ally calls for mass killing of Zionists, declares ‘humanity has no other choice’

May 23, 2025
Killer of Turkish Armenian journalist openly embraced by Erdogan gov’t after early release

Killer of Turkish Armenian journalist openly embraced by Erdogan gov’t after early release

May 22, 2025
Turkish military hierarchy at risk as Erdogan seeks new powers

Turkish military hierarchy at risk as Erdogan seeks new powers

May 21, 2025
Turkey approved concessions to Russia on $20 bln nuclear power plant amid sanctions, Ukraine-Russia war

Turkey pays more for energy while Russia holds keys to nuclear plant

May 20, 2025
Hundreds of organized crime syndicates have flourished in Turkey on Erdogan’s watch

Hundreds of organized crime syndicates have flourished in Turkey on Erdogan’s watch

May 19, 2025

Nordic Monitor

Nordic Monitor is a news web site and tracking site that is run by the Stockholm-based Nordic Research and Monitoring Network. It covers religious, ideological and ethnic extremist movements and radical groups, with a special focus on Turkey.

Tags

al-Qaeda Andrei Karlov China coup Cyprus Diyanet Egypt espionage Germany Greece Gülen Movement Hakan Fidan Hamas Hulusi Akar Ibrahim Kalın IHH Iran IRGC Quds Force ISIL ISIS Isis al-qaida Israel Libya Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu Milli İstihbarat Teşkilatı MIT Muslim Brotherhood NATO President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Profiling Qatar Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Russia SADAT spying Spying Activities Suleyman Soylu Sweden Syria Torture Turkey Turkish Intelligence Agency Turkish intelligence agency MIT Ukraine United States

Recent News

Turkish intelligence agency MIT’s secret rendition flight and black torture site exposed

Turkey’s top court confirms abduction, torture in case involving Turkish intelligence and foreign ministry

May 30, 2025
Turkey approved concessions to Russia on $20 bln nuclear power plant amid sanctions, Ukraine-Russia war

Turkey left out of management in Its first nuclear power plant built by Russia

May 29, 2025
Turkey leverages foreign wars to boost conventional arms production and profit

Turkey leverages foreign wars to boost conventional arms production and profit

May 28, 2025

Copyright © Nordic Research and Monitoring Network All rights reserved.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Extremism
  • Military
  • Terrorism and Crime
  • Intelligence
  • Foreign Policy
  • Contact Us
    • Give us a tip!
  • About Us

Copyright © Nordic Research and Monitoring Network All rights reserved.