Teams affiliated with the Counter-Terrorism (TEM) Departments will also work in the fight against new generation criminal organizations.
Minister of Internal Affairs Mustafa Çiftçi stated that new generation criminal organizations act with different methods than classical organized crime structures and announced that they made a decision in this direction.
Çiftçi said that the way criminal organizations are structured and operate has changed, and methods of fighting against new criminal networks that have different characteristics from classical organized crime structures have been developed accordingly.
TEM'S EXPERIENCE WILL BE TRANSFERRED TO THE STRUGGLE
Minister Çiftçi said, "From now on, the Counter-Terrorism Departments of our security units will also take part in the fight against 'new generation' criminal organizations and organized crime organizations." he said.
Noting that anti-terrorism units have significant institutional experience in analyzing and tracking organized structures, Çiftçi emphasized that this capacity will also be used in the fight against new generation criminal organizations.
Stating that the capabilities of different security units will be used more holistically in the new period, Çiftçi said, "The issue here is not only which unit deals with which crime, but also about using the security capacity of our state in the most effective way against changing criminal structures. If the criminal structure we face is changing, our method of struggle must develop accordingly." he said.
Çiftçi stated that in the new understanding of struggle, not only the members of criminal organizations in the field, but also their organizational structures and connections will be addressed in a holistic manner.
THEY DIFFER FROM THE CLASSICAL MAFIA STRUCTURE
Emphasizing that the threat posed by new generation criminal organizations should not be evaluated only in terms of the individual crimes they commit, Çiftçi pointed out that these structures pose a different security problem in terms of their organizational forms and effects on society.
Explaining that new generation criminal organizations are organized with different methods than classical mafia structures, Minister Çiftçi said, "They do not have a certain location, a fixed staff or hierarchy in the classical sense." he said.
CLOSE TRACKING OF GANG LEADERS ABROAD
Stating that gangs communicate over the internet and recruit members in this way, Çiftçi reminded that a significant portion of the leaders of criminal organizations are abroad.
Stating that the security units are following up on those who committed crimes in Türkiye and fled abroad, as well as organization leaders from other countries who give instructions to criminal networks in Türkiye, Çiftçi said that international cooperation in this field will be strengthened.
"THEY ARE NOT LIMITED TO A SINGLE TYPE OF CRIME"
Stating that these structures are not limited to a single type of crime, Çiftçi stated that they can operate in different areas, from cyber fraud to drug trafficking, from workplace shootings to extortion, threats and armed attacks.
Çiftçi stated that the new generation criminal organizations are trying to create fear and pressure in society by making violence visible and made the following assessment:
- Today, we see some of the methods used by terrorist organizations to disrupt the peace of the society, create fear and attract especially children and young people to their own structures, in the 'new generation' criminal organizations.
- Their purposes and legal qualifications are not the same, but there are similarities that we cannot ignore in terms of the social damage they cause.
- They target our children and youth, use violence as a tool and harm society's sense of security. For this reason, we cannot treat the struggle only as a classical public order issue.
Underlining that this does not mean that new generation criminal organizations are legally defined as terrorist organizations, Çiftçi noted that the experience, technology and operational capacity of security units will be used more effectively against the changing threat.
"THEY USE CHILDREN AND YOUTH"
Stating that new generation criminal organizations are trying to use especially children and young people as human resources, Çiftçi said that social media has become one of the important tools used for this purpose.
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE SUPPORTED TRACKING
Stating that the activities of the gangs on social media are closely monitored by the security units, Çiftçi stated that artificial intelligence-supported open source studies are used.
