Turkey’s Narco-Authoritarian Turn: A Mafia Playground

Once hailed as the “Turkish model” for its successful merging of Islam and democracy, Turkey has morphed into a global cocaine hub. Turkish students and holidaymakers are denied Schengen visas, yet the country’s mafias and narcotics cross Europe’s borders with ease. What remains is a narco-authoritarian order where crime, repression, and power are fused.

• The AKP–MHP alliance rehabilitated mafia figures, blurring the line between state and underworld. The Turkish mafia is living its golden age, as criminal patrons thrive under political protection.

• Far from serving as a passive transit route, Turkey has become an active facilitator of cocaine flows to Europe, with the uptick in seizures exposing the sheer scale of trafficking rather than any genuine advance in law enforcement.

• Judicial purges, corruption, tax amnesties, and for-purchase citizenship have turned Turkey into a haven for global crime bosses. Enforcement exists, but it is selective, politicised, and riddled with favouritism.

• Turkish mafias now form the core of major EU networks, with turf wars spilling into Berlin, Barcelona, and London, demonstrating how Turkey’s “mafiatisation” is destabilising European security.

Policy Implications

In its relations with Turkey, the EU may not place democratisation at the top of its agenda, but authoritarianism and organised crime are flourishing side-by-side in a vicious cycle. To contain spillover, Brussels must press Ankara to restore judicial independence, tighten financial oversight, and cooperate with Europe to stem the drug trade.

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