Interior Minister Çiftçi says Türkiye extradited 714 offenders in nine months.

During his official visit to Athens, Interior Minister Çiftçi announced that Türkiye had conducted 1,741 operations targeting 625 organized crime groups in the first nine months of 2026.

As part of his official visit to Athens, Interior Minister Çiftçi met with Greece's Minister of Citizen Protection Michalis Chrysochoidis and Minister of Migration and Asylum Thanos Plevris. Following the meetings, Çiftçi said that Türkiye's fight against organized crime was continuing abroad as well.

Çiftçi said he had visited Bulgaria and Georgia before Greece and that programs in Germany and Italy would continue in the coming days. Describing his meetings in Athens as productive, Çiftçi said security diplomacy would continue.

Operations targeting organized crime groups

Çiftçi announced that 1,741 operations targeting 625 organized crime groups had been conducted in Türkiye during the first nine months of 2026, saying that numerous groups had been dismantled. He said 22 of these groups had international links and stated that effective efforts were being carried out to combat organized crime.

Çiftçi said new-generation criminal organizations targeted citizens' homes, workplaces and vehicles, and recruited members by organizing through digital platforms. He said the fight was being conducted beyond national borders because these structures continued their activities in different countries.

Extradition of offenders and international cooperation

Çiftçi said some members of organized crime groups targeted in operations in Türkiye had managed to flee abroad, adding that efforts to track them continued overseas. He said one of the aims of the visits was to identify the offenders and hand them over to Turkish justice, noting that security diplomacy was important in this process.

Greece's Minister of Citizen Protection Michalis Chrysochoidis (archive)

Çiftçi announced that 714 people who had fled abroad after committing crimes in Türkiye had been extradited to Türkiye during the first nine months of the year. He said efforts to locate 969 people subject to Red Notices were continuing and that international contacts would help bring offenders to Türkiye.

Çiftçi said cooperation between countries needed to be strengthened because crime crossed national borders, adding that Türkiye and Greece faced a common problem. He said Greece was also fighting new-generation criminal organizations and gang members who had committed crimes in Türkiye and sought refuge in Greece.

Counterterrorism and irregular migration on the agenda

Çiftçi said the fight against terrorism was also discussed during the meetings in Greece. He said the talks comprehensively addressed efforts against the PKK, KCK, the Fetullah Terrorist Organization, DHKP/C and MLKP.

Çiftçi announced that the fourth meeting of the trilateral mechanism on combating irregular migration, established by Türkiye, Greece and Bulgaria in 2023, would be held in Türkiye in November. He said he had proposed developing the mechanism to include security and law enforcement cooperation as well.

Çiftçi said progress had been made on irregular migration and pushbacks under the trilateral mechanism. Although pushbacks had shown an upward trend in recent months, he said they had declined since 2023 and stated that he expected pushbacks to decrease as irregular migration movements declined.