Kurdish mafia is a general term for organized criminal gangs that consist of ethnic Kurds. Kurdish crime groups are active worldwide, especially throughout Turkey, Europe, and sometimes in the Middle East.

Background

Kurdish organised crime has its roots in banditry before Islam. Kurdish tribes robbed foreigners who crossed through their land, and raided villages of other nations before returning to their mountains.^[1][2][3] Early Aramaic sources described how Kurds raided churches and monasteries.^[4] Many Kurds later accepted Islam, although they continued to attack foreigners, including other Muslims, who entered their land, and while Islamic states from the Rashidun to the Ottomans had rule over Kurdistan, the Kurds enjoyed levels of autonomy as the authorities were either unwilling to engage in a deeper conflict with Kurdish tribes, or failed to.^[5][1] The Kurds demanded travellers to pay a tax in order to bypass their land unharmed.^[6] Yaqut al-Hamawi, a renowned traveller, wrote that "the Kurds remain in the surrounding mountains terrorizing the travellers, stealing, and looting. Intimidations, attacks, and arrests do not stop them by any means, because it is ingrained in the nature of the Kurds."^[7] Kurds were often associated with violence in historiography.^[8] The Kemalists in Turkey, and the Pahlavis in Iran, urbanized and sedentarized Kurds, loosening their tribal system, and putting an end to much of the violence.^[9][10][11]

History

Kurdish crime groups are operated by Kurds from all around Kurdistan, although the bulk comes from Turkish Kurdistan. Some of the crime groups carry out their activities in accordance to tribal customs. The main source of income for the Kurdish mafia is allegedly drug and weapon trafficking as well as contract killings.^[12][13] The Kurdish mafia also smuggles migrants into Europe in exchange for money, and are known for carrying heavy weapons.^[14] 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.^[15] A British police report revealed that the Tottenham Boys, a Kurdish gang from London, did funnel their profits to the PKK.^[16]

Afghanistan was a stronghold of the Kurdish mafia.^[17] 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.^[18][19] In 2015, the Kurdish mafia trafficking of Afghan opiates were disrupted by the unrest in Turkish Kurdistan.^[20][21] Turkish police cracked down on the Kurdish mafia in the process.^[21] The Taliban supplied the Kurdish mafia with opiates in exchange for a tax, and as long as the opiates would not be sold to Kurdish civilians, but to Europeans or Russians only.^[22] The Kurdish mafia also paid the PKK a tax to pass through their territory.^[23] Despite the Taliban tolerating the opiate trade during their insurgency, they banned it in 2022, as part of their new reforms.^[24] The Kurdish mafia also patrolled the Iran–Turkey border from both sides, and smuggled Afghan migrants into Turkish cities such as Istanbul in exchange for money.^[25]

The Kurdish mafia is also active in Sweden, heavily involved in the drug trade but also bombings, assassinations, robberies, and assaults.^[26][27][28]

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.^[29]

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.^[30]

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.^[31][32]

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.^[33]

Notable Kurdish mafiosi

• Hüseyin Baybaşin
• Aslan Usoyan
• Rawa Majid
• Barzan Tilli-Choli
• Savaş Buldan
• Behçet Cantürk
• Ali Yasak
• Adnan Yıldırım
• Hacı Karay
• Mehmet Ali Yaprak

References