Turkish intelligence services implicated in unsolved London murder, court documents say

Country's security services also blamed for other assasinations in European nations

Supporters of the PKK, whom Turkey and the EU consider a terrorist group at a rally. It was allegedly involvement with this group that led to the 1994 murder of Mehmet Kaygisiz (Reuters)

Turkish intelligence services have ordered at least one murder on British soil, new court documents have suggested.

The shooting of a Kurdish man living in north London in 1994 was directed by senior Turkish security officials and disguised as a criminal hit, according to the documents.

North London was notorious in the 1990s for criminal activity linked to Turkish and Kurdish gangs who fought for control of the heroin trade.

The revelations come from paperwork belonging to Turkey’s National Intelligence Organisation (MIT), submitted to a court in Ankara, The Times reported.

It will increase fears of alleged extensive overseas activity by the MIT, who have also been blamed for the 2013 murder of three prominent Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) activists in Paris.

Turkey, a Nato ally, has been at war with the PKK for decades and considers it a terrorist organisation.

Mehmet Kaygisiz, 33, was a Kurdish trade unionist with links to the PKK and the north London underworld. He was shot dead at a café in Islington in 1994.

His murder remains unsolved, though it occurred against the backdrop of organised crime in the area – reports from the time linked the killing with drug and extortion rackets, but also noted the heightened animosity between the Kurdish and Turkish sections of the community due to the conflict in southeastern Turkey.

But according to the court documents, Mr Kaygisiz’s assassin was Nurettin Guven, 59, a known drug baron acting on behalf of senior Turkish security officials because of Mr Kaygisiz’s PKK connections.

The documents said Guven met with then national police chief Mehmet Agar in Ankara, who encouraged him to carry out the murder of Mr Kaygisiz, saying “Come on my Lion”, according to The Times.

Guven’s MIT handler, Tarik Umit, was quoted in the documents - written in 1995 - as saying that Guven: “Went to the Kurdish neighbourhood in England. I called him two or three hours after our first call.

“He said: ‘My brother, I did it.’ I asked if he [Kaygisiz] is injured or something, he said: ‘No way. No one can save him.’”

However, Guven has denied being involved in the murder and was never arrested in connection with it. Mr Umit has been implicated in other assassination plots according to Turkish media.

Guven, one time owner of Malatyaspor Football Club, had fled Turkey once his criminality became known, drawing police attention for drugs and weapons offences in mainland Europe and was given a jail sentence in absentia in France. It is possible his circumstances could have made Guven more easily influenced by the MIT.

He remained in England for ten years despite French extradition attempts. After a stint in a French jail, Guven was released in Turkey, where he is believed to remain.

The Metropolitan Police said: "No one has been convicted of the murder of Mehmet Kaygisiz in Islington in 1994.

“We would welcome any new information which came to light and it would be assessed accordingly.

“The case sits with the Special Case Work Investigation Team which is part of the Homicide and Major Crime Command."