Illegal drug trade in Turkey

Turkish authorities claim that Drug trafficking has provided substantial revenue for illegal groups such as the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK),[1] particularly through marijuana cultivation in south-eastern Turkey,[2] and the 1996 Susurluk scandal showed substantial involvement in drug trafficking on the part of the Turkish deep state.

The factories were mainly owned by minorities, and had close relationships with international crime syndicates and some Turkish officials such as Hasan Saka.

Under international pressure, Turkey reduced the number of provinces where poppies could be grown from 1967 to 1972, before introducing a total ban.

According to Interpol, "Turkey is a major staging area and transportation route for heroin destined for European markets.

[12] According to Doğu Perinçek, the lure of heroin proved irresistible to the state, which suffered a $40–50 billion loss in trade with Iraq due to the U.N. embargo and the Gulf War.

Baybaşin said the most important state official involved in controlling the heroin trade was Şükrü Balcı, who was Istanbul Chief of Police 1979 to 1983.

[15]: 598 According to the Independent, the U.K. National Crime Squad had estimated that 90% of the heroin in the United Kingdom was under their control until 2002, when it had a bloody falling-out with its partners in the PKK.

He settled in the U.K. after becoming an informer for the HM Customs and Excise office to reveal what he knew, as someone who traveled with a diplomatic passport, about the involvement in heroin trafficking of senior Turkish politicians and officials.

At every consulate, there was a staff member officially assigned to found cultural centres and Turkish schools for example, and we would donate money for them.

The Turkish Cultural Association was completely funded by money from the drug trade.Another narcotic that was trafficked in significant quantity was Captagon.

[17] Yaprak was convicted in 1997 for involvement in the assassination of Gaziantep Bar lawyer Burhan Veli Torun, and released due to an amnesty law (Turkish: Şartlı Salıverilme Yasası).

Deputy Fikri Sağlar alleged that Lice was a center of drug processing, and that the factory was moved to Elazığ.