Behçet Cantürk (1950 – 14 January 1994) was a Kurdish

drug trafficker The illegal drug trade, drug trafficking, or narcotrafficking is a global black market dedicated to the cultivation, manufacture, distribution and sale of prohibited drugs. Most jurisdictions prohibit trade, except under license, of many types ...

1970s

Behçet's mother, Hatun Demirciyan, was an

Armenian Armenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia * Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent ** Armenian diaspora, Armenian communities around the ...

from

Lice Louse (: lice) is the common name for any member of the infraorder Phthiraptera, which contains nearly 5,000 species of wingless parasitic insects. Phthiraptera was previously recognized as an order, until a 2021 genetic study determined th ...

district. His father was named Reşit. Starting in 1975, Cantürk became a partner of some smugglers by providing money for them. In 1975, he participated in organizing the protest rally in

Diyarbakır Diyarbakır is the largest Kurdish-majority city in Turkey. It is the administrative center of Diyarbakır Province. Situated around a high plateau by the banks of the Tigris river on which stands the historic Diyarbakır Fortress, it is ...

held by the

Progressive Youth Association The Progressive Youth Organization () was the legal youth organization of the outlawed Communist Party of Turkey (TKP). It was founded on 6 January 1976. History The İGD developed close relations with trade unions and other progressive organiza ...

(İGD) and financially supported the rally. In the same year, he received a medical report through bribes from Konya Military Hospital certifying that he was not suitable for military service. In 1977 he started

arms trafficking Arms trafficking or gunrunning is the illicit trade of contraband small arms, explosives, and ammunition, which constitutes part of a broad range of illegal activities often associated with transnational criminal organizations. The illegal tra ...

1980s

Between 1981 and 1983, he was involved in the smuggling of gold and diamonds with the help of jewelers of Armenian and Syriac origin in the Grand Bazaar of İstanbul. In 1983, when

Dündar Kılıç Dündar Kılıç (real name Dündar Alikılıç; 1935 – 10 August 1999) was an infamous boss in the Turkish underworld. He earned himself the nickname of being the ' godfather of godfathers'. Early life and rise in underworld Dündar Kıl� ...

and İsmail Hacısüleymanoğlu started to put pressure on the non-Muslim and Diyarbakır-born jewelers in the Grand Bazaar in order to take control of gold and diamonds smuggling, he organized the bombing and an armed attack carried out by ASALA in the Grand Bazaar. As of 1983, he was controlling the

heroin Heroin, also known as diacetylmorphine and diamorphine among other names, is a morphinan opioid substance synthesized from the Opium, dried latex of the Papaver somniferum, opium poppy; it is mainly used as a recreational drug for its eupho ...

market in Diyarbakır and sale of heroin abroad. On June 22, 1984, he was arrested by the Military Court in

Ankara Ankara is the capital city of Turkey and List of national capitals by area, the largest capital by area in the world. Located in the Central Anatolia Region, central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5,290,822 in its urban center ( ...

for membership of the

Kurdistan Workers Party The Kurdistan Workers' Party, or the PKK, isDespite the PKK's 12th Congress announcing plans for total organisational dissolution, the PKK has not yet been dissolved de facto or de jure. a Kurdish militant political organization and armed gu ...

and the Kurdistan Avantguard Workers Party.

1990s

He and

Hüseyin Baybaşin Hüseyin Baybaşin (born 25 December 1956) is a Kurdish drug baron and crime boss, the former leader of the Baybaşin family. Following his drug trafficking in the 1990s, he made his name internationally. He was a notorious criminal against w ...

were partners in the smuggling of 3 tons of drugs on the ship MV ''Kısmetim 1'' that sunk in the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern ...

end of December 1992. In April 1992, along with a person named Iranian Hüsno, he brought six tons of morphine base and five tons of

marijuana Cannabis (), commonly known as marijuana (), weed, pot, and ganja, List of slang names for cannabis, among other names, is a non-chemically uniform psychoactive drug from the ''Cannabis'' plant. Native to Central or South Asia, cannabis has ...

from Pakistan. While distributing the drugs, he chose smugglers, who supported the PKK financially. On various dates, he collected money in the name of the PKK from drug smugglers named

Savaş Buldan Savaş Buldan (6 May 1964 – 3 June 1994) was a Kurdish businessman in Turkey. He was arrested by Turkish security forces and was found dead on 4 June 1994. Life Savaş Buldan was born in Yüksekova on 6 May 1964 to Şükrü Buldan (father). H ...

Hüseyin Erez Hussein, Hossein, Hussain, Hossain, Huseyn, Husayn, Husein, Hussin, Hoessein, Houcine, Hocine or Husain (; ), coming from the triconsonantal root Ḥ-S-N (), is an Arabic name which is the diminutive of Hassan, meaning "good", "handsome" or " ...

Hasan Erez Hassan, Hasan, Hassane, Haasana, Hassaan, Asan, Hassun, Hasun, Hassen, Hasson or Hasani may refer to: People *Hassan (given name), Arabic given name and a list of people with that given name *Hassan (surname), Arabic, Jewish, Irish, and Scotti ...

Cahit Kocakaya Cahit is a Turkish given name for males. It is also used as a surname It is the Turkish form of the Arabic word Jahid (Arabic: جاهِد ''jāhid''), which means "effort, strive" or " endeavour" and stems from the Arabic verb ''jahada'' (Arabic: � ...

and Eyüp Kocakaya. But it was later announced that he only paid money to PKK and PKK had no relation to any drug deals. After the

Ergenekon trials The Ergenekon trials or the Ergenekon conspiracy, were a series of high-profile trials which took place in 2008–2016 in Turkey in which 275 people, including military officers, journalists and opposition lawmakers, all alleged members of Erge ...

, some information was revealed that the

Tansu Çiller Tansu Çiller (; born 24 May 1946) is a Turkish academic, economist, and politician who served as the 22nd Prime Minister of Turkey from 1993 to 1996. She was Turkey's first and only female prime minister. As the leader of the True Path Party ...

government had supplied Canturk with a military helicopter to move drugs from East Turkey to West Turkey. He was abducted by Turkish mobsters dressed like police on 14 January 1994, and his corpse was found the next day in the vicinity of

Sapanca Sapanca is a municipality and district of Sakarya Province, Turkey. Its area is 173 km2, and its population is 46,847 (2024). It lies on the south bank of Lake Sapanca. The town's mayor is Nihat Arda Şahin ( CHP). Sapanca has recently beco ...

References

* (contains the Susurluk reports in English)

1970s

1980s

1990s

See also

References

Further reading