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Kurdish mafia

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Kurdish mafia
مافیای کورد
TerritoryMainly Middle East and Europe; in addition to North America and South Asia
EthnicityKurdish
Criminal activities
Allies
RivalsTurkish mafia

The Kurdish mafia (Kurdish: مافیای کورد, romanized: Mafyā Kurdan) are organised crime groups run by ethnic Kurds. It has spread mainly to countries in the Middle East and Europe, but also to North America and South Asia.

Background

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For the Kurds, organised crime has its roots in pre-Islamic banditry.[1] Kurdish tribes robbed foreigners passing through their territory and plundered the villages of neighbouring nations before returning to their inaccessible mountains.[2][note 1] Although many Kurds converted to Islam in the 8th century, they continued to attack any foreigners—including other Muslims—who entered their territory.[4] The Kurdish tribes enjoyed a degree of autonomy as they were seen by the rulers of Islamic states from the Rashidun Caliphate to the Ottoman Caliphate as 'aggressive mountaineers' who were difficult to fight.[4][5]

Yaqut al-Hamawi, a renowned traveller, wrote that:

Kurds descend from the mountains where they are staying to the highlands and terrorise travellers, stealing and looting extensively. Scaring them, attacking them back, arresting them does not stop them in any way, because this is the nature of Kurds.[6]

Kurds have often been associated with violence in historiography. The Kemalists in Turkey and the Pahlavis in Iran urbanised and settled the Kurds, loosening tribal systems and ending much of the violence.[7][8][9]

History

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1910 to 1920

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After the Ottoman Empire entered the First World War, mobilisation was declared.[10] The weakening of the central authority towards the end of the war led to an increase in banditry movements behind the front.[10] Some of the Alevi Kurds living in the villages in the mountainous areas of the Marash Sanjak, especially in the towns of Elbistan and Pazarcık, formed bandit gangs and put the public order in the region in a difficult situation.[11]

Towards the end of the First World War, in 1917 and 1918, the activities of bandits brought the commercial and economic life in the sanjak and the towns to a standstill.[11]

Modern times

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The Kurdish mafia is led by ethnic Kurds from all over Kurdistan, although the majority are from Turkish Kurdistan.[12][note 2] The main source of income for the Kurdish mafia is allegedly drug and arms trafficking, as well as contract killing.[13][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. ^ Tamari 2019, pp. 30–31.
  2. ^ Rahmati, Mohsen (March 2018). The Frontiers and Place-Names of Kurdistan in the Ilkhanid Period Based on Nuzhat al-Qulūb. Vol. 10. Review of European Studies. p. 68. Retrieved 3 November 2024.
  3. ^ Tamari 2019, pp. 20, 26.
  4. ^ a b Ariyan, Newzad (2021). The Mediaeval Association of Kurdish Tribes with Banditry, a Violent and Lawless Society?. 2. Ayyarids Research Papers. p. 15. Retrieved 3 November 2024.
  5. ^ De Nicola, Bruno; Melville, Charles (2016). The Mongols' Middle East: Continuity and Transformation in Ilkhanid Iran. Brill. ISBN 9789004311992.
  6. ^ James, Boris (2019). Uses and Values of the Term Kurd in Arabic Medieval Literary Sources. Beirut, Lebanon. p. 10. Retrieved 3 November 2024.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  7. ^ Falah, Ghazi (1985). "The spatial pattern of Bedouin Sedentarization in Israel". GeoJournal. 11 (4): 361–368. Bibcode:1985GeoJo..11..361F. doi:10.1007/BF00150770. ISSN 1572-9893. S2CID 153981975.
  8. ^ 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.
  9. ^ Salzman, Philip C. (1971). "National Integration of the Tribes in Modern Iran". Middle East Journal. 25 (3): 325–336. ISSN 0026-3141. JSTOR 4324777.
  10. ^ a b Aksakal, Mustafa (2011). "Holy War Made in Germany? Ottoman Origins of the 1914 Jihad". War in History. 18 (2): 184–199. doi:10.1177/0968344510393596. ISSN 0968-3445. JSTOR 26098597. S2CID 159652479.
  11. ^ a b Ayna, Bayram (2017). "Maraş ve Çevresinde Kürt Eşkıyaları". Academic Journal of History and Thought (in Turkish). 4 (13). Retrieved 4 November 2024.
  12. ^ Shanty, Frank; Mishra, Patit Paban (2008). Organized Crime. Bloomsbury Academic. ISBN 9781576073377. Retrieved 26 December 2014.
  13. ^ "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 11 April 2024.
  15. ^ "PKK-linked gangs reportedly behind drug trade in UK". Daily Sabah. 15 November 2022. Retrieved 11 April 2024.
  16. ^ Simpson, John (11 April 2024). "Gang funds Turkish terrorists". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 11 April 2024.
  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 12 April 2024.
  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 11 April 2024.
  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). 3 April 2023. Retrieved 6 July 2023.
  27. ^ ""Kurdyjski Lis": Kim jest Rawa Majida, król szwedzkiego podziemia – Skandynawiainfo" (in Polish). 16 September 2023. Retrieved 21 September 2023.
  28. ^ "Sweden jails Kurd for financing terrorism after Turkey calls for crackdown". 6 July 2023. Retrieved 27 April 2024.
  29. ^ "Afghan people smugglers seize market as illegal crossings into UK surge". Arab News. Retrieved 12 April 2024.
  30. ^ Calais, By Patrick Hill in; Updated (17 December 2022). "Knife fights and murders at Calais migrant camp 'run by Kurdish mafia with fear'". The Mirror. Retrieved 29 April 2024.
  31. ^ Allison, Natalie. "How active is Kurdish Pride Gang in Nashville? After officer's arrest, question remains". The Tennessean. Retrieved 11 April 2024.
  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…". 25 April 2018.

Notes

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  1. ^ Pre-Islamic Aramaic sources describe how the Kurds looted churches and monasteries.[3]
  2. ^ Some of the criminal groups conduct their activities in accordance with tribal traditions.

Works cited

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