In Istanbul, gang activity has increased over the last 15 years, particularly in neighborhoods densely populated by Kurds, Alevis, and revolutionaries. The Barış Boyun gang, notorious for its motorcycle assassination squads, as well as the groups known as the Daltons and the Caspers, became infamous for their attacks on residents and shopkeepers in areas such as the Gazi and 1 Mayıs neighborhoods.
In recent years, these gangs have also begun to emerge in Bağcılar, another district with a large Kurdish population. The group calling itself the Daltons in particular has started extorting money from shopkeepers in Kurdish-majority neighborhoods of Bağcılar, threatening and carrying out armed attacks against those who refuse to pay.
In the past few years alone, a young drug addict in the neighborhood killed his mother by beheading her for drug money, while dozens of residents have lost their lives in armed attacks either for refusing to pay “protection money” or for being linked to rival gangs. Today, both residents and shopkeepers in Bağcılar live in constant fear.
Gang activities in Bağcılar
What is currently perceived as gang clashes in Bağcılar is, in fact, a struggle over profit. Among the gangs that have divided the district into territories, the most powerful are those known as the Daltons and the Caspers. In their efforts to expand control and increase revenue, these groups carry out attacks in each other’s areas. During these assaults, ordinary citizens as well as gang members often become targets.
The most profitable activity for gangs in Bağcılar is drug trafficking. Targeting particularly high school and middle school students, gangs lure impoverished and distressed young people with money. These young people are first made dependent on drugs and then directed to become dealers in order to secure easy access to narcotics and earn income. Eventually, they are pushed further into becoming hitmen for the gangs.
Unemployment and lack of future push young people into gangs
Facing problems such as unemployment, anxiety about the future, insecure jobs with a minimum wage or less, exposure to violence within the family, and social isolation, young people are further driven into despair by the misguided attitudes of local politicians, political parties, and civil society organizations. In such circumstances, the only so-called “way out” that appears before them is the relatively easy life offered by gangs.
For young people struggling to hold on to life under capitalist modernity, where loneliness and individualism dominate, drugs become a means of escaping their problems. This sense of hopelessness gradually leads to a lack of thought, a reluctance to create solutions, and a refusal to strive for a new life. At precisely this point, gangs step in, turning young people into figures who can easily be used for their own purposes.
Drugs, extortion, prostitution
Young people who are first made addicted to drugs and then confronted with sums of money far beyond what they could ever earn in legitimate work increasingly adopt the mafia lifestyle imposed on them through social media and television. For the “comfortable” life they see associated with money and power, they begin following the orders of gangs.
After drug trafficking, the second-largest source of profit for gangs in the district is extortion from shopkeepers. Attacks on those who refuse to pay protection money have almost become part of daily life. Every day, certain shopkeepers are targeted in armed assaults. These attacks are carried out by children between the ages of 12 and 17 who have already been made addicted to drugs and financially dependent on gangs. For the gangs, children of this age group are seen as a crucial resource. Armed and instructed where to strike, they do not hesitate to carry out shootings. In just the last two years, it is claimed that more than 100 young people aged 15 to 17 have been arrested in Bağcılar in connection with such attacks.
Beyond drugs and extortion, prostitution stands as another major source of income for the gangs. In some neighborhoods, the age of women forced into prostitution has fallen to as young as 15. Often introduced to drugs first, young women are then coerced into prostitution in order to obtain narcotics.
The recruitment of girls aged 15 to 17 into drugs and prostitution frequently develops through targeted manipulation by gang members. Approached with feigned emotional closeness, they are first introduced to drugs. Later, sexual assaults committed against them are recorded on video, which is then used to blackmail them into prostitution.
For this purpose, houses are rented specifically for prostitution, or women forced into sex work are taken to clients’ addresses accompanied by gang members and brought back under their supervision. To prevent their escape, gangs threaten to send videos of sexual assaults to the women’s families.
Police tell residents who complain: ‘Move somewhere else’
Although the mainstream media often claims that law enforcement has carried out “major” operations against gangs in Bağcılar, residents we spoke to said the police almost completely ignore gang activity and merely act as if they are taking action in response to attacks.
A shopkeeper in Demirkapı neighborhood reported that just a week ago, gangs attacked another shopkeeper for refusing to pay protection money. Despite providing police with security camera footage and eyewitness statements, no action had been taken in the week since the attack.
Another resident, who did not want to share their name out of fear of reprisals, said that when they went to the police to report gang threats and attacks, officials at the station told them: “Then move out of the neighborhood.”
Despite their fear and anxiety, many local residents and shopkeepers have shown interest in initiatives led by the People’s Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) against gangs. Over the past year, the DEM Party has been organizing activities across neighborhoods in the district, visiting homes and businesses daily and raising awareness among the public about resisting gangs, drugs, and prostitution. Yet the police pressure on DEM Party activities reveals where the gangs derive their sense of protection.
On August 16, in particular, police did not only ban a planned march in Bağcılar’s Fatih neighborhood organized under the leadership of the DEM Party; they also completely blockaded Fatih March Street, where the march was to be held, in an attempt to intimidate the public.
Young people who drift away from their values fall into the hands of gangs
Vehbi Yılmaz, a district administrator of the DEM Party in Bağcılar who lost his brother to drugs six years ago, said that young people fall into relations with gangs largely because families fail to engage with their children and because of widespread anxiety about the future.
Yılmaz said: “In Bağcılar, our young people who are cut off from their values, who live corrupt and monotonous lives, are today falling into the swamp we call drugs. Those who are distant from their own values are being lost; they also grow distant from their families. As families, this is our shortcoming: not being able to be the voice of our youth, not being able to listen to them, not being able to give them psychological support. Those deprived of this fall into the swamp of drugs. Today, they have become addicted to substances like meth or bonzai. Some gangs see this void in their lives and use them as tools. Here in particular, our Kurdish youth are falling into this corrupt way of life. Our greatest loss is failing to protect our young people, allowing the gangs to become their families and tear them away from us, unfortunately.”
He added that the DEM Party is carrying out initiatives for young people, visiting families to raise awareness among them as well: “The reason our youth go to gangs is that they admire them, because they have money and dress in luxury. Under today’s conditions, young people who cannot find work turn to them to earn quick money. At first, gangs give them money; after a while, they make them users and street dealers. Then they assign them ‘tasks.’ At some point, these youths see themselves living in luxury, in a mafia-like lifestyle. Our young people are deceived with money; they especially target those who lack awareness. More than anyone, they prey on young people who are cut off from their values.”
Families must join the DEM Party’s initiatives
Yılmaz, who said he lost his brother Yavuz because of gangs, emphasized that families must especially support the initiatives of the DEM Party.
Yılmaz said: “Even if I call out Yavuz’s name, even if I shout to my right and left, I know he cannot hear me. Because we lost Yavuz. We gave Yavuz to the gangs; we lost him to those reckless gangs who sell drugs, who form gangs, and who drag our youth into a corrupt life today. The only thing I want to say here is this: No matter how much we call out, our young people are now under the soil. As families, the only thing we can do is truly hold on to these young people, embrace them so that they do not fall into the hands of gangs and into this rotten life.
I also want to say this: my brother was a very brave young man, but we could not protect that bravery; the gangs did. I buried a 28-year-old young man, and this was our failure. Let us support the campaign launched by the DEM Party and hold on tightly to the hands of our youth.
Because Yavuz once told me: ‘Brother, if one day you have a child, never let go of their hands.’ For ten years, those words have remained in my mind.”
They especially target Kurdish young people
Ilhami Kurt, a district administrator of the DEM Party in Bağcılar and an activist in anti-drug initiatives, described the situation in the district as follows: “In Bağcılar, we see that, in recent times, young people, especially those between the ages of 16 and 20, are being dragged into the swamp of drugs and kept away from political life. We know that gangs are carrying out major efforts in this direction, luring young people with small amounts of money and steering them toward destructive paths. We particularly advise Kurdish young people to stay away from such environments. These young people are given a gun on their belt, a motorcycle to ride, and then sent to open fire wherever the gangs want.
The public is suffering greatly because of this, and parents are extremely cautious. Everyone is anxious about their lives; people can no longer go out into the streets. In the past, people would go to a café or restaurant, but recently even that has stopped. People live with the constant worry of: ‘Will there be an armed attack on this café? Will a fight break out in this restaurant?’ No one feels safe right now; there is constant tension. This cannot be stopped. Just last week, one of our friends was shot in an armed attack related to this issue and lost his life.”
If DEM Party is allowed to work freely, both families and young people would feel relief
Kurt noted that gangs often cause trouble in public parks, yet police frequently fail to intervene. He continued: “People call the police, but they either arrive very late or only after the incident is already over. Measures could be taken against this, but for some reason they are not. The police respond too slowly and indifferently. The DEM Party wanted to organize a march on this issue, but thousands of police were deployed to block it. The DEM Party is carrying out important work, organizing cultural activities and picnics, and trying as much as possible to draw young people into a political framework and into an environment where they can live their own culture. But there is always a barrier, always an obstacle in front of this. If the DEM Party were allowed to work freely, both families and young people would feel relief.”