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Kurdish mafia

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Kurdish mafia
TerritoryTurkey, Iran, Iraq, Germany, Sweden, United Kingdom, France, Afghanistan, Netherlands, Belgium, United States, Switzerland, Norway, Belarus, Russia
EthnicityKurds
Criminal activitiesArms trafficking, assassination, assault, bombing, car theft, contract killing, drug trafficking, extortion, human trafficking, infiltration of politics, kidnapping, murder, people smuggling, police corruption, police impersonation, racketeering, witness intimidation, witness tampering
AlliesPKK (alleged)
Taliban (formerly)
Russian mafia
Baybaşin family
RivalsTurkish mafia

Kurdish mafia (Sorani Kurdish: مافیای کوردی) 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

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Kurdish organised crime has its roots in banditry before Islam. Kurdish tribes robbed foreigners who crossed through their land, and raided villages of neighbouring nations before returning to their mountains which were hard to access.[1][2][3] Pre-Islamic 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

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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 the guarantee that 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 mafioso

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Families

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References

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  1. ^ a b James, Grounded Identities. 20–26 & 30–31
  2. ^ Mohsen Rahmati, 'The Frontiers and Place-Names of Kurdistan in the Ilkhanid Period Based on Nuzhat al-Qulub', Review of European studies 10 68. 76
  3. ^ James, Grounded Identities. 34–35
  4. ^ The mediaeval association of Kurdish tribes with banditry, version 2, 2021, page 15
  5. ^ James Boris, Bruno De Nicola en Charles Melville, The Mongols' Middle East: continuity and transformation in Ilkhanid Iran. Islamic history and civilization; Volume 127 (Leiden, Netherlands; Boston, Massachusetts: Brill 2016). 281–284
  6. ^ Boris, De Nicola en Melville, The Mongols' Middle East. 291
  7. ^ Boris James, 'Uses and Values of the Term {{subst:lc:Kurd}} in Arabic Medieval Literary Sources' (Beirut 2009). Page 10
  8. ^ James, Grounded Identities. 32
  9. ^ Falah, Ghazi (1985). "The spatial pattern of Bedouin Sedentarization in Israel". GeoJournal. 11 (4): 361–368. doi:10.1007/BF00150770. ISSN 1572-9893. S2CID 153981975.
  10. ^ Koohi-Kamali, Farideh (2003). "The Political Economy of Kurdish Tribalism". The Political Development of the Kurds in Iran: Pastoral Nationalism. Palgrave Macmillan UK. pp. 44–65. doi:10.1057/9780230535725_3. ISBN 978-0-230-53572-5.
  11. ^ Salzman, Philip C. (1971). "National Integration of the Tribes in Modern Iran". Middle East Journal. 25 (3): 325–336. ISSN 0026-3141. JSTOR 4324777.
  12. ^ Shanty, Frank; Mishra, Patit Paban (2008). Organized Crime. Bloomsbury Academic. ISBN 9781576073377. Retrieved 26 December 2014.
  13. ^ "BBC News - Could Turkish and Kurdish gangs become new 'mafia'?". BBC News. 21 October 2010. Retrieved 26 December 2014.
  14. ^ "Calais people-smuggling gang broken up with 19 arrests, says Europol". theguardian.com. Retrieved 2024-04-11.
  15. ^ "PKK-linked gangs reportedly behind drug trade in UK". Daily Sabah. 2022-11-15. Retrieved 2024-04-11.
  16. ^ Simpson, John (2024-04-11). "Gang funds Turkish terrorists". ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 2024-04-11.
  17. ^ The nexus of conflict and illicit drug trafficking. November 2016. p. 25.
  18. ^ The nexus of conflict and illicit drug trafficking. November 2016. p. 28.
  19. ^ "Feared clan who made themselves at home in Britain | UK news | The Guardian". amp.theguardian.com. Retrieved 2024-04-12.
  20. ^ The nexus of conflict and illicit drug trafficking. November 2016. p. 3.
  21. ^ a b The nexus of conflict and illicit drug trafficking. November 2016. p. 27.
  22. ^ The nexus of conflict and illicit drug trafficking. November 2016. p. 23.
  23. ^ The nexus of conflict and illicit drug trafficking. November 2016. p. 21.
  24. ^ Nations, United. "Taliban's Poppy Ban in Afghanistan: Can It Work?". United Nations. Retrieved 2024-04-11.
  25. ^ İçduygu A (2020) Decentring migrant smuggling: reflections on the Eastern Mediterranean route to Europe. J Ethnic Migr Stud 47(14):3293–3309
  26. ^ "Mapping: Rawa Majid is the "Kurdish Fox"". www.tv4.se (in Swedish). Retrieved 2023-07-06.
  27. ^ ""Kurdyjski Lis": Kim jest Rawa Majida, król szwedzkiego podziemia – Skandynawiainfo" (in Polish). 2023-09-16. Retrieved 2023-09-21.
  28. ^ "Sweden jails Kurd for financing terrorism after Turkey calls for crackdown". 2023-07-06. Retrieved 2024-04-27.
  29. ^ "Afghan people smugglers seize market as illegal crossings into UK surge". Arab News. Retrieved 2024-04-12.
  30. ^ Calais, By Patrick Hill in; Updated (2022-12-17). "Knife fights and murders at Calais migrant camp 'run by Kurdish mafia with fear'". The Mirror. Retrieved 2024-04-29.
  31. ^ Allison, Natalie. "How active is Kurdish Pride Gang in Nashville? After officer's arrest, question remains". The Tennessean. Retrieved 2024-04-11.
  32. ^ "Street gang emerges from Kurdish community in Nashville". The New York Times.
  33. ^ "Kurds, Mafias and Legal Advice // And just like Michael Cohen, I am not charging for it…".
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