NICOSIA, Jan 19 (AFP) - Turkish Cypriot police have arrested four Turks on suspicion of involvement in the murder of a fugitive banker and his family in the government-held south, the breakaway state's interior minister Ozkan Murat said Tuesday.
Murat declined to reveal the names of the four while the investigation continues, the Turkish Cypriot TAK news agency said.
The bodies of Elmaz Guzelyurtlu, 52, his wife Zerin, 50, and their 15-year-old daughter were found beside the main Larnaca-Nicosia motorway early Saturday.
They were all still wearing their pyjamas and had been shot at close range, prompting Greek Cypriot police to suggest they had been the victims of a mafia-style hit.
Guzelyurtlu had been living in the south since 2000 when he fled the north following the collapse of his Everest Bank with debts estimated by the Turkish media at 42 million dollars.
The failure of Everest and other banks left many Turkish Cypriots penniless and sparked an economic crisis and civil unrest in the breakway north.
Cyprus has been divided since 1974 when Turkish troops invaded its northern third following an Athens-engineered coup aimed at uniting the island with Greece.
The breakway Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus is recognised only by Ankara.
01/19/2005 13:42 GMT - AFP