Turkey has long been known as a transit country for narcotics, but recent statistics indicate a growing presence of methamphetamine in society. The government is beginning to recognize the problem and is stepping up operations against drug gangs.
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Cardboard pieces obscured the windows, allowing only the dim glow of a bulb to illuminate the coffee table. In this small space, the air was heavy with the combined odors of dampness and tobacco while the glowing wires of the electric heater struggled to warm the room. Sitting cross-legged on the cold floor, Pelin (all names have been changed) placed the flame of a lighter under the aluminum foil and brought the small straw she held between her lips close to it. She took a puff, coughed a little and cleared her throat before mechanically resuming the ritual.
With her red-dyed hair and her eyes highlighted with kohl, the pale-skinned young woman wore only a tight-fitting, low-cut t-shirt. For a few weeks now, she has been living in this little shack in the deprived Altindag district of Ankara, alongside her fellow hardship-stricken friends, Kemal and Utku. She is from Ankara, Kemal from Istanbul and Utku from a distant town in Anatolia. Thirty years separate them and nothing suggested that their paths would one day cross. But heroin brought them together.
« I’ve heard that drugs push users into trafficking… I have to admit, it’s somewhat true, » said Kemal in a hoarse voice. His emaciated body is barely visible under his loose shirt while his gaunt face shows no expression. He has been using heroin daily for eight years, several times a day. He was arrested a few years ago and sent to « Amatem, » the state rehabilitation center. The stay, he admitted, gave him temporary relief, but the substitution drugs weren’t enough. In just a few months, he knew all the tricks to appear « clean » in medical tests. But he risks going to prison. Article 191 of the Turkish Penal Code provides for two to five years imprisonment for drug users.
‘Poor man’s cocaine’
On the other side of the street, Dogu and his friend Osman, with their military haircuts and black down jackets, were drinking tea on the terrace of a small canteen. « I nearly killed myself after taking heroin. So I stopped, and now I take ‘amca’ [literally, ‘uncle,’ slang for methamphetamine], » explained Dogu, with a blank look on his face. « The problem is that I take it every day. It’s very expensive and I lost a molar because of it, » he said, pointing to the back of his jaw. Presented in the form of small transparent crystals, a dose of methamphetamine sells for 300 Turkish liras (around €10) and is rarely enough to satisfy the user.
Since this « poor man’s cocaine » has arrived in the neighborhood, it has become part of everyday life in many households. Necmi Erdogan, professor of political science at the Middle East Technical University, who works on extreme poverty in Ankara’s northern districts, estimates that « one household in four » is affected by addiction to a psychotropic substance by one or more of its members. « Methamphetamine use has increased significantly in recent years. Amatem’s care and hospitalization services have increased their capacity, but we need more beds, » confirmed Ebru Aldemir, senior lecturer in the Department of Psychiatry at Izmir’s Tınaztepe University, specializing in addictology.
Until recently, the idea that Turkey was merely a transit country for goods bound for Europe was widely accepted. But today, the statistics contradict this idea. Like fentanyl, a synthetic opioid wreaking havoc in the United States, methamphetamine use has disrupted the social fabric in the most disadvantaged neighborhoods. More affordable than cocaine (1,300 Turkish liras, or around €40 a gram), it has come to compete with ecstasy, bonzaï (synthetic cannabis) and heroin before dethroning them. The 2023 report from the anti-drug trafficking units (Narkotim, initiated across the country in 2018) reveals that methamphetamine seizures have tripled, reaching 16 metric tons from 2021 to 2022. This increase stands in contrast to the stable or decreasing seizure rates for other drugs.
Increasingly younger users
Since 2018, the launch of the High Council for the Fight against Addictions reflects the Turkish authorities’ growing awareness and commitment to the issue. Police teams in Narkotim compete to bring in the biggest haul, which they often showcase on social media. Public spending on these efforts has almost doubled between 2021 and 2022, reaching 4.3 billion Turkish liras (around €130 million, namely 0.5% of the state budget).
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Another worrying trend is the fact that drug users are increasingly younger. Taner, aged 23, had been selling drugs for a long time before he was arrested during a major crackdown. Visiting his lawyer’s office in the central district of Çankaya, he is hoping for leniency from the court and a reduced sentence. « The capital is divided into several zones. Everyone knows exactly where their zone begins and ends. We avoid stepping on each other’s toes [between the different gangs], » he explained.
As the conversation progressed, a map of the trafficking routes took shape. Diyarbakir, in the southeast, for cannabis and the Mediterranean and Aegean ports of Mersin and Izmir for cocaine. Ankara, the capital, serves as a redistribution center for various products throughout the country. As in Mexico, gang leaders’ displays of power hold a certain fascination for young people.
Corruption among magistrates
Taner, who has only ever made a living from trafficking, knows the system inside out. « The big bosses have men everywhere. At the police station, at the courthouse… They often know in advance when a search is about to take place, » he claimed. The corruption among magistrates has been the subject of scandals in recent months. « But the biggest mafia boss is Devlet Bahçeli and [his party] the MHP [Nationalist Action Party, an ally of the government coalition], » pointed out Taner ironically. Photos published in the press regularly attest to the MHP leader’s closeness to organized crime leaders. In June 2023, the departure of Süleyman Soylu, close to the MHP and interior minister in the Erdogan government for seven years, marked a turning point in the crackdown on these networks. In the spring of 2021, the revelations of mafia godfather Sedat Peker, who fled to Dubai, about their connections were greeted with horror by public opinion.
Since his appointment, his successor Ali Yerlikaya, former governor of Istanbul, has stepped up operations against money-laundering networks and mafia gangs that had previously slipped through the net. These displays of strength have been welcomed even in the ranks of the opposition. « It’s positive, » said lawyer Ilhan Cihaner, a former CHP (Republican People’s Party) MP. But the former public prosecutor is wary of the whims of his country’s justice system, and prefers to remain cautious: « Now, we’ll have to see how the legal proceedings evolve. »