The larger-than-life character "Sabri the Turk" is no more. Portrayed by Lawrence Durrell in Bitter Lemons as a roguish charmer, Sabri Tahir (76), was gunned down on Monday by a former bodyguard. A witness to the murder reported that a young Turk from Istanbul, Mr Mucahit Ardahan (24), walked into the bar at the Orient Hotel, owned by Sabri, and pumped four bullets into his head at point-blank range. Mr Ardahan promptly surrendered to the police.
He appeared in a north Nicosia court on Wednesday, charged with murder. While no motive for the killing has been given, the Turkish Cypriot press said the gunman is known to be a member of a debt-collecting agency run by the mainland Turkish Mafia. A connection with a prostitution ring has also been suggested.
Durrell became acquainted with Sabri in the 1950s. The young Englishman approached the Turkish Cypriot, "a sturdily built" man "with a fine head on his shoulders" and "the most untrustworthy man of business" in Kyrenia, to find a "cheap village house in which to settle for a year or two - perhaps forever". Durrell relied on the "iron law of hospitality" to ensure that Sabri behaved honourably in the inevitably lengthy and complicated negotiations over the property.
The Turk summed up the situation perfectly: "Somewhere not too far from Kyrenia you want an arty old house . . . Honestly, my dear," he said, "it will be a matter of luck."
Sabri found just such a house, in the beautiful hill village of Bellapaix. A handsome house with a splendid view of the ruined Gothic cathedral and of the lemon groves stretching to the sparkling surface of the sea far below. A short walk down the steep road stood the Tree of Idleness where villagers sat and talked, measuring evenings in small cups of thick Turkish coffee, Sabri lived up to Durrell's best expectations. "My dear, when one is warm to me. I am warm to him back." They became firm friends. Durrell called Sabri "a gallant man".
Sabri was briefly appointed mayor of Kyrenia following the Turkish occupation of the northern third of the island in 1974. But unsavoury business dealings were rumoured. His son Adnan was stabbed to death in 1980.
Ten years later Sabri's car was blown up. A 1996 attempt on his life left him confined to a wheelchair. This week luck deserted Sabri the Turk.