Minister of Internal Affairs Mustafa Çiftçi said, "Organized crime groups should not think that we will leave them behind when they commit crimes here and escape abroad. We follow them abroad as well. We catch them abroad and bring them to justice." he said.
Farmer, who came to Amasya within the scope of the Türkiye Century Meetings, held a press conference at the AK Party Provincial Directorate after his visit to the Governor of Amasya, the Leader Minister. Stating that the Ministry of Internal Affairs continues its work to contribute to the peace of Türkiye, Çiftçi said, "We are the Ministry of Internal Affairs. We are working intensively with our police force, gendarmerie, coast guard organization, Directorate of Immigration Administration, AFAD organization, governorships and district governorships to build the century of peace in the 'Turkey Century' with a total of 682 thousand personnel. We are trying to contribute to the peace of Türkiye with all our personnel as much as possible." he said.
Stating that the new academic year has started, Çiftçi wished it to be beneficial for students, teachers, parents, National Education organization and the country. Sharing data on public order crimes, Çiftçi pointed out that in the 8-month period of 2026, 267 thousand incidents occurred under 8 important crimes committed against people.
Stating that they saw a 14 percent decrease when compared to the five-year average, Çiftçi said, "The previous 5-year average was around 309 thousand. This year it is 267 thousand, I am talking about the 8 most important crimes against individuals in Türkiye. Crimes have been committed. This year we are witnessing a 14 percent decrease. This is a pleasing rate for us." he said.
Stating that there has been a decrease in crimes against property, Çiftçi stated that the number of incidents, which was 196 thousand 500 on average in the period of 8 months and 10 days between 2021 and 2025, decreased to 136 thousand 600 this year, which corresponds to a decrease of 30.5 percent.
Stating that they attach great importance to the capture of fugitives with prison sentences, Çiftçi said that the average daily number of people caught is 569 in 2024, 562 in 2025 and 599 in 2026.
Referring to the armed attacks carried out using motorcycles, Çiftçi said: "This was a situation that extremely disturbed our society. Last year, in the same period in 2025, 193 incidents occurred. He goes on a motorcycle, shoots the workplace, shoots the house, shoots the vehicle. This year, the number of incidents that occurred in the same period of 2026 is only 65. In other words, we see that there is a 66 percent decrease in this."
FIGHT AGAINST ORGANIZED CRIME ORGANIZATIONS
Emphasizing that they give priority to the fight against the structures they describe as new generation organized crime organizations, criminal gangs and "city bandits", Çiftçi noted that 1592 operations have been carried out against 562 organized crime organizations since the date he took office.
Regarding the latest operations held across the country, Minister Çiftçi stated that approximately 3,500 people were prosecuted in one day, and pointed out that the operations were aimed at both ensuring the security of schools and destroying organized crime organizations.
"WE ARE DETERMINED TO NEVER LEAVE SPACE FOR THESE ANYWHERE"
Stating that the operations will continue, Çiftçi said, "From now on, our operations will continue with the same determination. Some of these organized crime organizations, their members and leaders flee abroad when they realize that they will be caught. As the Ministry of Internal Affairs, we follow their traces abroad." he said.
Following his visits to Georgia, Çiftçi said that Georgia extradited 438 people to Türkiye this year and that the members of the organized crime group who fled abroad were also followed.
Minister Çiftçi said, "So, organized crime organizations should not think that we will leave them behind when they commit crimes here and escape abroad. We follow them abroad as well. We catch them abroad and bring them to justice. In the coming days, I will continue my visits to Greece, Germany and Italy regarding the extradition of the members and leaders of these organized crime organizations. We are determined to never leave them any room anywhere." he said.
Regarding people who fled abroad after committing crimes in Türkiye, Çiftçi said: "This year, in an 8-month period, we ensured the extradition of 684 people who committed crimes in Türkiye and fled abroad. They committed crimes in Türkiye and fled to different countries. We issued a red notice or diffusion about them and ensured their extradition to our country. 167 of these 684 people were leaders or members of an organized crime group."
Çiftçi underlined that the fight against organized crime organizations will continue with determination and said, "No matter where they go in the world, we will find them, catch them and bring them to justice. I would like to express before you that we are waging a determined struggle both as the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Ministry of Justice to bring them down and not leave them any scope for activity." he said.
FIGHT AGAINST CYBER CRIMES
Referring to the fight against cybercrime, Çiftçi said, "As a result of the cyber patrols we carried out within our Department of Combating Cyber Crimes, we detected a total of 184 thousand criminal elements this year. We patrol both the streets and the cyber world. We call it green homeland, we call it blue homeland, we call it sky homeland. As an organization responsible for ensuring peace and security in the cyberhomeland, we continue our work here 24 hours a day, 7 days a week." he said.
Regarding the actions taken within the scope of cyber patrols, Çiftçi said, "As a result of these patrols, we closed 40 thousand web pages. We also blocked access to 73 thousand social media accounts. We closed 62 thousand 500 illegal betting sites." he said.
Emphasizing that crimes committed in the cyber environment victimize real people, Çiftçi said, "Although crimes are committed in the cyber world, their victims are real people. The crime is real, the victim is real. It does not change it for us that it is committed in the cyber world. The Ministry of Internal Affairs will continue to fight determinedly against crimes and criminals, no matter where the crime is committed." he said.
Minister Çiftçi stated that they will meet with members of the organization, citizens, tradesmen and representatives of non-governmental organizations in their program in Amasya within the scope of the Türkiye Century Meetings.
AK Party Amasya Deputy Haluk İpek and Hasan Çilez, Tokat Deputy Mustafa Arslan, Çorum Deputy Oğuzhan Kaya, Ankara Deputy Ahmet Fethan Baykoç, Istanbul Deputy Nurettin Alan, MKYK Member Abdulkadir Develi and AK Party Amasya Provincial Chairman Galip Uzun also took part in the press conference.
