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Kurdish mafia

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Kurdish mafia
مافیای کورد
TerritoryMainly Western Asia and Europe; in addition to North America
EthnicityKurdish
Criminal activities
Allies
RivalsTurkish mafia

The Kurdish mafia (Kurdish: مافیای کورد, romanized: Mafyayê kurd) are organised crime groups run by ethnic Kurds. Outside of Kurdistan, the mafia spread mainly to countries in Western Asia and Europe, but also to North America and Afghanistan.

History

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After the Ottoman Empire entered the World War I, mobilisation was declared.[1] Central authority was weakened towards the end of the war, leading to an increase in banditry behind the front.[1] Some of the Kurds living in the villages in the mountainous areas of the Marash Sanjak, especially in the towns of Elbistan and Pazarcık, formed bandit gangs and put the regional public order in a difficult situation.[2] Towards the end of the First World War, in 1917 and 1918, the activities of bandits brought the commercial and economic life in the sanjak and the towns to a standstill.[2]

The Kurdish mafia is led by ethnic Kurds from all over Kurdistan, sometimes even conducting activities in accordance to tribal tradition, although the majority are from Turkish Kurdistan.[3] The main source of income for the Kurdish mafia is allegedly drug and arms trafficking, as well as contract killing.[4][5] The Kurdish mafia smuggles weapons and hard drugs all across Europe, and Süleyman Soylu accused them of making over US$1.5 billion per year for the PKK.[6] A British police report revealed that the Tottenham Boys, a Kurdish gang from London, did funnel their profits to the PKK.[7]

Kurdish crime families cooperated with each other. Later, Abdullah Öcalan stated that any PKK member who partook in Kurdish mafia activities was expelled from the group.[8]

The Kurdish mafia also patrolled the Iran–Turkey border from both sides, and charged Afghan migrants a fee to be smuggled into Turkish cities, including Istanbul.[9] They did not recognize the Iran–Turkey border and operated without regards to it.[10] They hated Turkey, and were eager to smuggle as many migrants as they could. They had even told the migrants. Their hatred for Turkey was a genuine motivation in addition to money, and they cooperated with Iranian criminals in the migrant smuggling.[11]

Afghanistan was a stronghold of the Kurdish mafia.[12] Kurdish criminals smuggled opiates from Afghanistan into Iranian Kurdistan, Iraqi Kurdistan, and Syrian Kurdistan, which they would later smuggle into Turkish Kurdistan, and then transport it to Western Europe or Russia through the Balkans.[13][14] In 2015, the Kurdish mafia trafficking of Afghan opiates were disrupted by the unrest in Turkish Kurdistan.[15][16] Turkish police cracked down on the Kurdish mafia in the process.[16] The Taliban supplied the Kurdish mafia with opiates in exchange for a tax, and the guarantee that the opiates would not be sold to Kurdish civilians, but to Europeans or Russians only.[17] The Kurdish mafia also paid the PKK a tax to pass through their territory.[18] Despite the Taliban tolerating the opiate trade during their insurgency, they banned it in 2022, as part of their new reforms.[19]

The Albanian mafia was previously dominant in the people smuggling business, although the Kurdish mafia later took over the business, and a few years later, following the refugee crisis after the 2021 Taliban takeover, Afghan criminals dominated the business.[20]

International activity

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Sweden

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The Kurdish mafia is also active in Sweden, heavily involved in the drug trade but also bombings, assassinations, robberies, and assaults.[21][22][23]

France

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In late 2022, the Kurdish mafia had several camps in Calais, which they used to house the migrants they smuggled. One camp housed around 1,500 people, and was described as being extremely dangerous, with a migrant confirming that the Kurdish mafia controlled both the camp and the trafficking route.[24]

USA

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In Nashville, Tennessee, during the 1990s and 2000s, Kurdish organised criminals began operating in the city. Their main actions were drug distribution and armed burglaries. Jiyayi Suleyman, who was the first Kurdish officer of the Metro Nashville Police Department, was arrested in 2018 for assisting the gang.[25][26]

Germany

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Kurdish mafia gangs in Germany were also reported to extort German businessmen, making them pay a tax every month in exchange for protection, and even threatening police saying "we outnumber you." German authorities had avoided targeting Kurdish mafia leaders due to fears of streets being filled with Kurdish protestors who will not allow the police to proceed. Some German municipalities even avoided arresting Kurds due to fears of a riot or retaliation.[27]

Notable Kurdish mafioso

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References

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  1. ^ a b Aksakal, Mustafa (2011). "Holy War Made in Germany? Ottoman Origins of the 1914 Jihad". War in History. 18 (2): 184–199. doi:10.1177/0968344510393596. ISSN 0968-3445. JSTOR 26098597. S2CID 159652479.
  2. ^ a b Ayna, Bayram (2017). "Maraş ve Çevresinde Kürt Eşkıyaları". Academic Journal of History and Thought (in Turkish). 4 (13). Retrieved 4 November 2024.
  3. ^ Shanty, Frank; Mishra, Patit Paban (2008). Organized Crime. Bloomsbury Academic. ISBN 9781576073377. Retrieved 26 December 2014.
  4. ^ "Could Turkish and Kurdish gangs become new 'mafia'?". BBC News. 21 October 2010. Retrieved 26 December 2014.
  5. ^ "Calais people-smuggling gang broken up with 19 arrests, says Europol". theguardian.com. Retrieved 11 April 2024.
  6. ^ "PKK-linked gangs reportedly behind drug trade in UK". Daily Sabah. 15 November 2022. Retrieved 11 April 2024.
  7. ^ Simpson, John (11 April 2024). "Gang funds Turkish terrorists". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 11 April 2024.
  8. ^ Primitive Rebels Or Revolutionary Modernizers: The Kurdish Nationalist Movement in Turkey, Paul J White, 2000, pp. 199
  9. ^ İçduygu A (2020) Decentring migrant smuggling: reflections on the Eastern Mediterranean route to Europe. J Ethnic Migr Stud 47(14):3293–3309
  10. ^ Drugs in Society: Causes, Concepts and Control, Michael D. Lyman, Gary W. Potter, 2007, pp. 162
  11. ^ Waiting to Be Arrested at Night: A Uyghur Poet's Memoir of China's Genocide, Tahir Hamut Izgil, 2023, pp. 141-144
  12. ^ The nexus of conflict and illicit drug trafficking. November 2016. p. 25.
  13. ^ The nexus of conflict and illicit drug trafficking. November 2016. p. 28.
  14. ^ "Feared clan who made themselves at home in Britain | UK news | The Guardian". amp.theguardian.com. Retrieved 12 April 2024.
  15. ^ The nexus of conflict and illicit drug trafficking. November 2016. p. 3.
  16. ^ a b The nexus of conflict and illicit drug trafficking. November 2016. p. 27.
  17. ^ The nexus of conflict and illicit drug trafficking. November 2016. p. 23.
  18. ^ The nexus of conflict and illicit drug trafficking. November 2016. p. 21.
  19. ^ Nations, United. "Taliban's Poppy Ban in Afghanistan: Can It Work?". United Nations. Retrieved 11 April 2024.
  20. ^ "Afghan people smugglers seize market as illegal crossings into UK surge". Arab News. Retrieved 12 April 2024.
  21. ^ "Mapping: Rawa Majid is the "Kurdish Fox"". www.tv4.se (in Swedish). 3 April 2023. Retrieved 6 July 2023.
  22. ^ ""Kurdyjski Lis": Kim jest Rawa Majida, król szwedzkiego podziemia – Skandynawiainfo" (in Polish). 16 September 2023. Retrieved 21 September 2023.
  23. ^ "Sweden jails Kurd for financing terrorism after Turkey calls for crackdown". 6 July 2023. Retrieved 27 April 2024.
  24. ^ Calais, Patrick Hill in; Updated (17 December 2022). "Knife fights and murders at Calais migrant camp 'run by Kurdish mafia with fear'". The Mirror. Retrieved 29 April 2024.
  25. ^ Allison, Natalie. "How active is Kurdish Pride Gang in Nashville? After officer's arrest, question remains". The Tennessean. Retrieved 11 April 2024.
  26. ^ "Street gang emerges from Kurdish community in Nashville". The New York Times. 15 July 2007.
  27. ^ "Kurds, Mafias and Legal Advice // And just like Michael Cohen, I am not charging for it…". 25 April 2018.

Notes

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Works cited

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