Pantelides Indicted, Flees to Turkish Cyprus

Drafted into Turkish Cypriot Military

North Nicosia (SPP) – Former Annapolis Mayor Mike Pantelides was indicted by a Federal Grand Jury in Baltimore on Friday for a violation of the Stolen Valor Act of 2013. This carries a penalty of up to one year in prison. Pantelides’s problems with the law started when a good Samaritan spotted the disgraced former mayor panhandling while pretending that he was a veteran.

Pantelides never served in the armed forces. Pretending to be a veteran to receive anything of value, even a handout, is a Federal crime.

However, the news was not all bad for Pantelides. He resurfaced yesterday in the self-styled Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, where he was granted not just asylum, but citizenship to the de facto state which does not have an extradition treaty with the US. Only the Turkish government recognizes the entity, while the Greek side of the island is internationally recognized as the legitimate government of the island of Cyprus.

The self-styled Turkish Republic of Northern Cyrpus came into existence after the Turkish military invaded Cyprus in 1974, amid international outcry. Attempts to resolve the dispute through diplomacy have heretofore been unsuccessful.

Pantelides, who previously believed that he was of Greek Cypriot heritage, found out recently from a home DNA test that he is in fact half Turkish, and not Greek at all. As a result, he was disowned by his community.

Pantelides also got additional good news when he learned that he was being conscripted into the Turkish side’s military. Military service in the Turkish Cypriot Security Forces Command is compulsory for all male citizens between 18 and 40 on the island.

When reached for comment, Pantelides told The Super Patriot Post that he “didn’t realize they had a draft,” but noted that “at least my sign will be truthful in the future, because I will have served in some military and will be a veteran when I finish my time.”

However, the Acting US Attorney for Baltimore, Stephen Schenning, took a dimmer view, telling The Super Patriot Post. “Certainly signing up for military service could serve as mitigation, but at the time Pantelides made the claim he had never served. Also, I don’t know that getting conscripted into military service by a country we don’t recognize after you fled from justice is really mitigating at all. If anything, I think it is, on balance, more aggravating than mitigating.”

Schenning remarked that they would make attempts to bring Pantelides to justice, despite the lack of an extradition treating with Northern Cyprus and wouldn’t rule out asking President Trump to send in Special Forces to retrieve him. “We owe it to our vets,” he said.