Turkish Cypriots bid Final Farewell to Asil Nadir at Funeral

The funeral took place in three stages, with high-profile figures from Turkish Cypriot politics as well as his wife Nur Nadir and his two youngest children Lisa Nur Nadir and Mertselim Asil Nadir first gathering outside the former offices of Kibris, the newspaper he founded in 1989, in northern Nicosia.

His coffin was placed in front of the front steps of the building, and his wife and Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar both made short speeches.

“We were together when he was on his journey to forge a homeland, we were together when he was doing time in prison, we were together when we were sending him off on his final journey in the hospital. I hope you are with your loved ones in another world, Asil,” Nur Nadir began.

“We will continue the struggle you left behind with your two children who will not disappoint you – do not worry”.

Tatar then made a short speech of his own, extolling Nadir’s virtues, while also saying it was the Greek Cypriot side which caused the struggles he faced.

“What he did for the TRNC, what he did to make the TRNC a global brand, is obvious. However, he was a person who suffered great injustice. South Cyprus was always hindering him. They even went as far as to reduce his shares on the stock exchange, and ensured his collapse.

“I also told United Nations officials that he was destroyed by these attacks. Asil Nadir’s name will live on. You will never be alone in this struggle. May his resting place be light and may his resting place be heaven”.

After the gathering at the former Kibris offices, a religious ceremony was held at the Suat Gunsel mosque, Cyprus’ largest, at northern Nicosia’s Near East University, before he was buried at northern Nicosia’s cemetery.

Nadir had risen to prominence in the United Kingdom when he transformed textile company Polly Peck into a multi-million-pound company during the 1980s before it became mired in scandal and ultimately ended in a jail sentence. He also owned a powerful media empire in the north until 2022.

In the UK, he was found guilty of ten counts of theft of nearly £29m from Polly Peck in August 2012 and was sentenced to ten years in prison.

Having served four of those years, he was transferred to Turkey as part of a prisoner transfer agreement between Turkey and the UK in April 2016. He then spent a single night in a Turkish prison, before returning to Cyprus, where he lived out the rest of his life.