Chinese criminal wanted by Interpol applied for "citizenship" in Turkish-occupied Cyprus

A Chinese citizen who was on the Interpol Red list was declared persona non grata in the Turkish-occupied territories of Cyprus on Thursday after attempting to apply for ‘citizenship’ of the pseudo-state.

The man, aged 54, who is named Yanxi Xia and also known as Arman Kaya, was placed on Interpol’s list after being accused of running a pyramid scheme in his home country.

He had applied for ‘citizenship’ in the north as a “high-income individual” in 2020, a year before being placed on Interpol’s list.

Having now been declared persona non grata, he is expected to be transferred to Turkey.

In 1974, Turkey invaded Cyprus and subsequently occupied 38% of the territory of the island, which to this day remains de facto divided by the “Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus” (TRNC), proclaimed in 1983 following a UDI by the Turkish-speaking Cypriots.

The “TRNC” is an illegal entity as per UN Security Council Resolutions UN Security Council Resolution 541 and UN Security Council Resolution 550 and is recognised only by Turkey. Subsequently, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has condemned the latter for human rights violations in Cyprus.

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