Another Iranian chief of the crime has acquired Turkish citizenship, reveals Murderfall

Abdullah Bozkurt / Stockholm

The murder of a 48-year-old drug dealer in Turkey is revealing how Iranian criminals are able to get Turkish citizenship, to say goodbye to Turkish citizenship, and expansational transnational criminal operations to orchestration-hob with minimal resistance and in some cases with the direct relief of Turkic authorities.

The revelation occurred after the fatal shooting of the Iranian National National Yousef Ali Akbari in Istanbul on the evening of December 8, 2024 in an apparently war war between rival criminal networks. While the Turkish authorities, after such incidents, initiated the standard protocol, the case accidentally revealed troubling details of how Akbari and his employees worked in Turkey with almost an endeavor.

According to the investigation, Akbari acquired Turkish citizenship in 2023 and officially adopted the Turkish name Aras Yılmaz to hide his true identity despite a well -documented criminal history. He had two earlier entries in police records and was already measured by Turkish law enforcement authorities and the National Intelligence Organization (Millî İstihbarat Teşkilatı, with) for his participation in illegal activities.

How Akbari managed to adopt the review process of citizenship remains unclear, since the investigation file does not contain any information about how it received the approval or who may have made it easier. In normal procedures, several red flags should be triggered during checking its application. His successful navigation of these protective measures indicates the inclusion of high protection in the Turkish government or the support of people with considerable political influence.

All applications for Turkish citizenship ultimately require President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has significantly facilitated the process for foreigners who invest in Turkey or invested property. With the institutions of the judiciary and the law enforcement authorities under the control of the Erdogan government, legal issues of international refugees can often be solved through bribes, political protection or direct intervention.

A further study by Akbaris Murder showed that another Iranian employee in his network, who also received Turkish citizenship and took over the name Sait Aksoy, had been naturalized in a similar way.

It is believed that Akbari has set up a criminal company in Turkey under the obvious protection of the right -wing extremist nationalist movement party (Milliyetçi Hareket Partisi, MHP), an important political ally of President Erdogan. The MHP has long been accusations of acting as a political patronage for mafia networks, syndicates for organized crime and drug trafficking. Both the party and Erdogan benefit financially through setbacks and bribes in order to provide these groups for the provision of legal cover and administrative immunity.

Akbari played a central role in trading drugs from Iran to Türkiye, with the subsequent distribution to third countries. He was also involved in the procurement of raw materials from Iran to produce narcotics in secret laboratories that were set up in Turkey. His well -known employees included Reza Hamati, an Iranian citizen and a decisive figure in the network.

Before his murder near a restaurant in the Vadi Istanbul shopping center in the Ayazağa district in Sarıyer, Akbari had operated on a minimal interference by the Turkish authorities. After his death, only a limited approach was initiated. Three weeks later, the police arrested eight suspects – both Turkish and Iranian citizens – in an apparently “controlled and limited” operation, which was apparently designed to offer the government a pretext for plausible denial. The arrested included Ismail Gözde, Meysam Zohouri Rad, Milad Sadeghzadeh, Hemati, Ahmet Khaler, Sait Aksoy, Burak Uşar and advisory Ayhan.

The investigation seemed to have been strategically successful to alleviate the political consequences of Akbari's murder. While smaller employees were arrested, the central figures that organized the drug trade network together with those who offer political and legal protection were untouched by Turkish law enforcement authorities.

Case files show that Akbaris Top -Adjutanten Hamati and Mahmoud Davarpanah Fard – both Iranian nationals – were known to the Turkish authorities who were fully aware of their networks, operational methods and Turkish employees. In rare cases, police and customs officials have successfully intercepted shipments and confiscated over four tons of methamphetamine, 70 kilograms of heroin and 105 kilograms of precursor chemicals in drug production.

For example, a significant attack – 1,982 kilograms of liquid methamphetamine in the border province of Ağrı on March 14, 2024 – was connected directly to the Akbari network. Nevertheless, no measures were taken against him or his top employees at this point, and the investigation file does not provide an explanation for this obvious inactivity.

In view of the criticism of their delayed reaction, the Turkish authorities were looking for the fact that an examination of the network was started in September 2022, which led to some arrests and seizures. However, no convincing explanation was offered that they did not aim at Akbari or its high-ranking employees, and the authorities instead concentrated on low-level road dealers.

In the examination file recorded in the examination file show that drug operation also continues to Akbari's murder. His MPs were recorded in which the programs of ethanol – a crucial forerunner in methamphetamine production – were transported from Iran to Turkey, which often deleted the customs without incidents. The network also brought Iranian chemists and specialists to help drug production, but none of these people were arrested by the Turkish authorities.

Akbari was ultimately murdered within the drug network due to an internal dispute. He was shot by the contract murderer Mert Akçay, who was paid for the job for the job and received his commands from the competing dealer Emre Battal, whose business had been undermined by Akbaris's expanding operations. Batal remains at large.

Akbari's case is not an isolated incident, but part of a wider pattern in Erdogan Turkey, where Iranian criminal personalities, including those who are connected to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), have found a safe port for illegal activities.

Another Iranian citizen, Ahmed Nazari Shirehjini, who is being sought in Europe for organized crime suspicion, was recently identified as another criminal who received Turkish citizenship. Like many others who are involved in drug trafficking and organized crimes, Shirehjini has connections to Mehmet Ağar, a former interior minister, assumed that he checked significant parts of the purely purely police apparatus.

In fact, the trade documents checked by Nordic Monitor show that Shirehjini is listed as a business partner of Ağar's son Zülfü Tolga Ağar, a legislator from Erdogan's ruling judicial and development party (AKP) and member of the parliamentary Defense Committee.

Ağar-Seit long as a mafia sponsor in Turkey, keeps close connections to various organized crime syndicate and works with impunity thanks to the political protection, which he enjoys both from the AKP and his partner, the right-wing extremist MHP.

Shirehjini, who is currently outside Turkey, was also associated with drug trafficking and illegal gambling surgery in the Turkish-controlled Breakaway territory of the north-cyper. He has reportedly washed money on behalf of the Iranian regime through various illegal systems.

In the past ten years, the US government has imposed numerous Turkish persons and companies to facilitate the Iranian sanctions, which reflects the permissible environment provided by the Erdogan government. Corruption investigations in Turkey in 2013 and subsequent US Federal Court of Justice Entered the connections from Erdogan to Reza Zarrab, an Iranian sanction buster, who washed billions of dollars through Turkish banks on behalf of Tehran.