Hundreds of syndicates for organized crime flourished in Turkey on Erdogans watch

Abdullah Bozkurt/Stockholm

In a letter from the Interior Minister in Turkey it was revealed how the country became a safe port for organized crime networks, drug dealers, cybercriminals and internationally sought -after refugees.

Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya, who supervises the two most important law enforcement agencies in the country – the police and the Gendarmerie – in a letter to Parliament that more than 660 groups operated in Turkey in Turkey last year.

While the minister tried to emphasize the government's procedure against criminal networks, he accidentally admitted that the authorities allowed such groups for years to work freely in Turkey, to neglect their activities and not to take any measures until recently.

According to the letter, a copy of Nordic Monitor led over 1,600 operations between June 2023 and August 2024, which recorded 11,635 people and officially hold more than 4,500.

Yerlikaya did not provide any figures on how many of the arrested were ultimately convicted, since most of the arrests are released at their first hearing and the frequent frequent political connections and the judicial facility to the subordination of the business area into the executive are most frequently released at the end of the exams.

The letter reads like a victory on paper. In reality, it raises a deeper question: Why were these extensive criminal emphasis primarily so freely rooted and work? And why the late measures, especially if several countries asked Turkey to reduce groups that threatened public order and national security beyond their limits for a long time?

A letter from the Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya revealed how crime groups organized in Turkey in recent years revealed themselves:

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The most muddy revelation is the sheer selection of the criminal landscape – 660 separate organizations, each with their own network of companies, financial infrastructures, weapons, political ties and significant assets. Remarkably, this number only covers for over 14 months, since the minister did not announce how many groups for organized crime in previous years or after October 30, 2024, on the date on which the letter was signed, was targeted.

However, the minister often publishes messages on his X account and claims that the police break down dozens of organized criminal police officers every week and the total amount goes far beyond what he reported in his official letter. Critics argue that the government in criminal companies often aims at low figures and at the same time avoid the masterminds that orchestrate the plans.

These groups were not only well equipped, but also deeply embedded in Turkish society. Such a presence does not materialize overnight. These groups did not operate in the shade, but in sight – under the watchful eye of law enforcement authorities who did not seem ready to intervene against groups that were often deterred by government political signals.

Of course, this raises serious concerns about the integrity of the judicial and law enforcement and secret services of Turkey, which were deeply politicized under the Islamist government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and its right-wing extremist nationalist allied, Devlet Bahçeli, who, as a podvather, of mafia groups and criminal prices and Criminal Enterpreis and Criminal Company was described. The longer inactivity of the government to reduce hundreds of criminal syndicates not only indicates a troubling complicity, but also to a blatant lack of political will to confront these networks.

Among the thousands of objects that were confiscated in the operations 2023-2024 were 545 long-term weapons, almost 10,000 handguns and 19 hand grenades of military quality on the civil roads. In addition, there is a massive drug transmission, fake documents and over 6,000 debt writers for the financial compulsion, and a clear picture arises: this was not just criminal behavior; It was organized, armed and flourished under the rule of President Erdogan.

The widespread use of fake identities and the infiltration of public institutions – a problem that the ministry recognized – also suggests that organized crimes in Turkey is not just a police problem. It is a state vulnerability.

While Minister Yerlikaya emphasized that “even officials” are not freed from the investigation, the need for such an explanation reveals a deeper systemic putrefaction. When public servants were involved – and growing evidence suggest that many were – where were the supervisory mechanisms? Where was the accountability obligation? The minister did not announce how many civil servants were examined, arrested or persecuted in connection with their connections to these organized crime groups.

The problem extends over local syndicates for organized crime. In the past ten years, Turkey has become a refuge for infamous international criminals, some of which even granted Turkish citizenship and political protection.

The letter states that between June 2023 and August 2024 552 Fugices from Interpol were arrested in Turkey. The fact that such a large number of international criminals could operate or hide in the country raises serious concerns about border security and international cooperation. How did Turkey become a safe harbor for so many refugees?

The opposition claims that financial incentives have made the Erdogan government to allow Türkiye to become a hub for international criminal groups. According to the legislator Cevdet Akay, a total of 76.7 billion US dollars for non -identified origin in the Turkish economy were injected during Erdogan's two decades in the power of Erdogan. In contrast, the same number between 1984 and 2001 was only 1.7 billion US dollars.

Erdogan and his employees are accused of being benefited from criminal groups who pay protection money and bribes for Turkish officials to avoid legal problems while operating from Turkey. Mehmet Ağar, a former Minister of the Interior, assuming that he has a significant impact on the country's police apparatus, is often identified as an important figure that coordinates various activities for organized crime in the name of the Erdogan government.

The case of Cemil ÖNAL, who worked as an accountant for the Falyalı crime company from 2014 to 2021 and was recently murdered, shows how organized crimes in Turkey was facilitated. ÖNAL played a key role in setting up a large -scale money laundering program that moved illegal means from the north of Cyprus, which is controlled by Turkey.

He revealed in detail how former Interior Minister Halleyman Soylu and former Vice President Fuat Oktay accepted millions in bribes and that the compromises in bands of Erdogan's son Burak and Erkam Yıldırım, the son of the former Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım, were used as a lever of the Falyalı Group. ÖNAL also shared audio recordings of his conversations with members of the Turkish judiciary, in which they discussed bribes, in return for the release of criminal matters against the group. ÖNAS allegations have never been examined in Turkey. He was murdered on May 1st and killed in the bar of the hotel, where he was in the Hague.

ÖNALAL's case is not an isolated incident, but the latest addition to a long list of criminal groups who work in Turkey and, to government officials, protection money-the lion's share in President Erdogan and his right-wing extremist allies.

As a rule, the government only take up international criminals if the external pressure for Erdogan administration becomes unbearable and the disadvantages outweigh the advantages. In these cases too, Turkish connections are often overlooked, and local networks that enable foreign refugees to maintain their business in Turkey remain unaffected. These limited operations also serve to distract Erdogan criticism both at home and abroad.

This climate of impunity seems deeply rooted, as organized groups continue to thrive, while the authorities often aim at the road level and not to lead or the real masterminds in police operations.

The attempt by the government to make these operations as a resounding success sounds great relief in view of their unveiling: For years, criminal syndicates have had an impunity, the development of violent networks, intimidations and illegal finances in the cities and institutions of Turkey.