Turkish man establishes two imaginary countries, sends 'diplomatic note' to Turkey

ISTANBUL

Turkey’s Foreign Ministry revealed the scam, filing a criminal complaint against the four friends.

A Turkish man has established two fictional countries and sent a “diplomatic note” from one of them to slam authorities in Ankara, Turkish media reported on Dec. 5.

Ahmet Çatalkaya, the leader of the “countries” he founded with his three friends, was caught in his scam after he applied to establish a diplomatic office in Turkey, daily Yeni Şafak reported.

Çatalkaya claimed to be the honorary consulate of “the Democratic and Constitutional Republic of Songhrati Thaumaturgy,” which he suggested won its independence from Malaysia in 1993. He also said the president of this country is an Ankara-based Turkish citizen with two Western-sounding given names: Keith Mackenzie Mcocsci.

Turkey’s Foreign Ministry quickly revealed the scam, filing a criminal complaint against the four friends. Three of them have been released, but a criminal investigation was initiated against Çatalkaya, who was sentenced to two years in prison for “forgery of official documents” by the 44th Criminal Court of First Instance.

The suspect did not help himself during the trial by pleading guilty. Instead, he said the “New Lemuria Republic” had sent a diplomatic note to criticize Ankara for the violation of his diplomatic immunity, as he was recently appointed as the “ambassador to Baghdad.”

Before the verdict, the court had discovered that Çatalkaya was arrested in 2011 for carrying a fake passport bearing the name of the New Lemuria Republic