Man accused of killing Solomou held for smuggling Turkey

THE MAN accused of killing Greek Cypriot demonstrater Solomos Solomou in August 1996 has been arrested on suspicion of smuggling mobile phones into the country.

Mainland Turk Kenan Akin was ‘agriculture and forestry minister’ in the occupied areas when he was seen on camera firing the shots that killed Solomou as he climbed up a flagpole to ear down the Turkish flag in Dherynia.

On Thursday night, he was caught trying to smuggle around a thousand mobile phones into Turkey through Istanbul airport.

Reports said the phones, all Nokia models, had been smuggled into northern Cyprus from Hong Kong and that Akin was attempting to smuggle them into Turkey secreted in two suitcases.

Turkish customs police acting on a tip-off also arrested Akin’s accomplice Hifzi Tarik.
Akin and Tarik both admitted to attempted smuggling, a police report said.

However, Akin’s lawyer Tayfun Baysal told Kibris newspaper on Thursday night Akin had not intended to smuggle the phones, “but was carrying the two suitcases because Hifzi had asked him to”.

“Hifzi asked Kenan Akin for help carrying the cases claiming he had too many to carry by himself. Akin had no idea what was in the cases and agreed to carry them through customs as if they were his own,” Baysal claimed.

Baysal said he believed his client would be released shortly.

The Cyprus government issued an international arrested warrant for Akin after the Dherynia incidents, and he is listed by Interpol as wanted for murder.

He has also been implicated in a number of violent crimes in the north, but because of his status as ‘deputy’ remained above the law. He lost his seat in the Turkish Cypriot ‘parliament’ in December 2003.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.