It has been found that the man in Turkish Cyprus who has been arrested on counts of espionage took 201 photos of Turkish soldiers in a time period of 16 days.
Mehmet Besimoglu, 70, was arrested and detained in Famagusta recently by the Turkish Cypriot police after they allegedly found evidence of him working as a spy for Greek Cypriots.
This came after Mr. Besimoglu admission in his police testimony explaining how the took photos of Turkish soldiers as well as the military base and delivered them to a Greek Cypriot.
The same was confirmed by other sources of the judiciary, who added that the photos were taken in a span of 16 days.
Besimoglu has been called out for providing images to a potential Greek Cyprus agent, and with which, according to phone records, he was said to be constantly communicating.
This incident is an added burden to the Cyprus situation. The island country has remained divided since 1974, after a Greek Cypriot coup and subsequent violence against the Turkish citizens along with the intervention of Ankara as a guarantor power.
The incident led to the declaration of an “independent” Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus on Nov. 15, 1983, which is only recognized by Turkey as independent.
Attempts to reunite the two sides have only resulted in failure – the latest being the failure of a two-year negotiation that disintegrated in July 2017.