By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
RIJSWIJK, NETHERLANDS (Worthy News) – Police in the Netherlands are investigating the killing of a Turkish mafia boss who reportedly had images implicating politicians of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s party AKP with financial wrongdoing.
Cemil Önal, the suspected mastermind behind the murder of a gambling boss, Halil Falyali, in Turkish-controlled Northern Cyprus, was assassinated Thursday at the terrace of a hotel in the Dutch city of Rijswijk.
Witnesses said he was riddled with bullets at the Hoevevoorde hotel. A Turkish crime journalist reported that “he was silenced.”
Before the assassination, the victim was seriously threatened from several sides, according to investigators.
Önal provided documents to U.S. and Dutch intelligence services in exchange for protection as he would “certainly.”
The pro-AKP website Turkinfo wondered “why he was allowed to walk around freely in the Netherlands” after he was detained for 16 months “and was not deported to Turkey earlier.”
However, sources familiar with the situation said that would have meant facing execution.
EXPOSING SECRETS
Northern Cypriot journalist Aysemden Akin said Önal “was about to expose secrets” of the Falyali family, politicians, and government networks, “including links between the Turkish state” and the mafia, and illicit money flows.
Akin, a journalist at media outlet Cyprus Today, spoke to Önal over three days for a series of articles on murdered gambling boss Halil Falyali. The first part was published on 14 April.
The conversations took place under security, according to sources familiar with the case.
Önal told the reporter that even Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan was “looking for the incriminating videos.” Fidan apparently sent an envoy to Northern Cyprus with the message: “Make sure you find those tapes, then you can make a career in the government.”
Of a total of 45 to 46 videos, 40 are now said to be in the hands of the Turkish state. The Turkish intelligence services are said to be still eagerly searching for five to six missing videos.
Government officials have denied wrongdoing. AKP politician Süleyman Soylu, who was previously linked to the mafia, reacted fiercely. “It is also said about me that there are tapes and that I admitted to it,” Soylu told an opposition leader. “I would have said to the people who are supposedly blackmailing me: ‘Why don’t you do anything with those supposed videos of people with the name Erdogan?’
The AKP member “wants to see proof as the stories are completely untrue.”
Copyright 1999-2025 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.
More Worthy News
An international group of influential climate activists demand a new global treaty to phase out fossil fuels to prevent the “assassination of humanity,” despite growing concerns that there aren’t yet enough alternatives available to sustain global economic growth.
A coalition of American Christian leaders gathered on the steps of the U.S. Capitol on Friday to pray and “thank President Donald J. Trump” for reportedly designating Nigeria as a “Country of Particular Concern” (CPC) over the killing of thousands of Christians by Islamic groups.
The student revival movement that has been shaking campuses across America surged again Tuesday night as more than 6,000 students packed J.S. Dorton Arena at North Carolina State University to worship Jesus Christ, hear the Gospel, and respond to the call of salvation.
The U.S. Justice Department came under mounting pressure to release all files related to deceased convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, despite strong opposition from the White House and signs that U.S. President Donald J. Trump is reluctant to make the documents fully public.
France paid an emotional tribute Thursday to the 130 people killed ten years ago during a night of coordinated attacks by Islamic State extremists who targeted cafés, restaurants, and the Bataclan concert hall in Paris.
The Trump administration on Nov. 13 finalized a sweeping rollback of Biden-era restrictions on oil and gas development in Alaska, restoring access to more than 13 million acres of the National Petroleum Reserve–Alaska (NPR-A) in a move officials say will bolster U.S. energy security and revive North Slope communities.
The United States on Thursday urged the UN Security Council to support Washington’s draft resolution establishing an International Stabilization Force (ISF) to secure postwar Gaza and guide the territory into a future “free from Hamas.” The measure — a central pillar of President Donald Trump’s broader Middle East peace framework — has been crafted with input from Qatar, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates.