In recent years, gangs that have increasingly spread across neighborhoods have begun to be used in operations carried out by the government against revolutionaries. Organized in areas such as Gazi Neighborhood, Okmeydanı, 1 Mayıs Neighborhood, Karayolları Neighborhood, and Kanarya, these gangs, drawing local youth into a degenerate culture, have for some time been involved in state operations targeting revolutionaries.
Most recently, the use of a member of a drug gang in operations targeting members of the Socialist Party of the Oppressed (ESP) drew public attention, yet this practice appears as a method frequently employed by the state.
Gangs turned into informants against revolutionaries
The state, which has enabled gangs to establish themselves particularly in neighborhoods, has in turn begun using them to report on and gather intelligence about revolutionary organizing in these areas. Gang members who operate freely in neighborhoods have also started informing the police about who the revolutionaries entering these areas are and for what purpose they come.
Hasan Ferit Gedik lost his life in 2013 in Gülsuyu after gangs opened fire during a march against drug gangs. Members of the gang who carried out the attack later openly confessed when they were detained in connection with other incidents, stating that they had acted upon the instructions of the police.
Alongside these practices, the police have also begun using individuals who once stood alongside revolutionaries but later became involved in gangs as informants in operations targeting revolutionary and patriotic figures in neighborhoods. Most recently, in operations targeting the Socialist Party of the Oppressed, dozens of socialists were detained and arrested based on the statements of a drug dealer who had previously been part of revolutionary circles.
Gang activity is a state policy
Sezin Uçar, Deputy Co-Chair of the Socialist Party of the Oppressed, stated that the state has long supported gang activities in neighborhoods where Alevi and Kurdish communities live, and evaluated these policies for ANF.
Uçar pointed out that one of the clearest indicators of these policies is the statement that Doğukan Çep, one of those who shot Sinan Ateş, was also responsible for the killing of Hasan Ferit Gedik. She continued: “In neighborhoods known for their democratic and progressive identity, where Alevi and Kurdish workers predominantly live, gang activities, sex work, and drug use have been implemented as a state policy for many years.
However, we can say that 2013 holds a particular significance in terms of the deepening of this state policy. When we look at the statements of Doğukan Çep, whose testimony was taken in the Sinan Ateş case, we see this more clearly. In order to prevent the Gezi resistance, an uprising of honor and freedom, from spreading to working-class neighborhoods, gangs were further organized. The killing of Hasan Ferit Gedik, the repeated armed attacks on the Socialist Party of the Oppressed Maltepe district office in Gülsuyu, and the trajectory of the organization of the Gülsuyu gangs and the level of their organic relationship with the state all demonstrate this expansion.”
Gangs used to deepen social decay
Sezin Uçar emphasized that gangs are being used to deepen social decay and said: “Today, gangs referred to as ‘new generation gangs,’ whose activities have reached an international scale, are also being used by the regime to intensify social decay. In conditions where young people struggle with a lack of future, poverty deepens, and social contradictions fail to meet an organized alternative, gang activities are organized with promises such as living without producing and making money quickly.
Neighborhoods such as Gazi, Gülsuyu, Okmeydanı, and 1 Mayıs Neighborhood, where revolutionary organization still persists, albeit less than before, and where social contradictions are intense, are specifically selected by the state for gang activities. Young people are drawn into drug use; at first they are used in acts such as theft or transporting illicit goods, and later they are involved in a wide range of activities extending as far as killing.”
Discontent exists despite lack of strong resistance in neighborhoods
Sezin Uçar stated that revolutionaries are being arrested based on the statements of these gangs. Uçar said: “As a recent example, we are witnessing that individuals involved in these gang activities are being turned into informants by making false statements against revolutionaries and socialists in exchange for promises of escaping punishment for the crimes they have committed.
All these gang activities create a deep sense of discontent among the working people living in these neighborhoods, even if there is not yet a strong resistance. It is necessary to put forward a more organized and unified program of struggle against these gangs, which are equipped with all the instruments of violence by the state. Together with the people and workers, confronting the coercive mechanisms used by these gangs with a material force is an axis that cannot be avoided in this struggle.”
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