Mafias
The deputy chairman of ANAP, Yaşar Okuyan, broke down the mafia revenue (per annum, in trillion TL) as follows: 500 (drugs), 200 (gambling), 300 (money laundering). The total is equivalent to a black money market of $3.5 billion/year.
Three of the better-known gangs involved in scandal were the Kocaeli Gang (Hadi Özcan), the Söylemez Gang and the Yüksekova Gang.
A mafia gang under the leadership of the Söylemez brothers comprising police and army officers was discovered in summer 1996. The head of the gang is helicopter officer Faysal Söylemez, and among the top officials whose involvement in the gang are the former deputy chief of Istanbul Police, Deniz Gökçetin, and the former head of Istanbul Security branch, Sedat Demir. According to government reports, the Söylemez Gang had arms, explosives, DM 186,500 and TL 155,200,000.
The Soylemez Brothers gang were caught with plans to raid the headquarters of the Bucak clan in Siverek, Urfa, the head of which is the DYP member of parliament (MP) Sedat Bucak, the only survivor of the crash. The blood feud between the Bucaks and the Söylemez gang is allegedly based on the control of arms and drugs trafficking in Turkey and particularly in the South East.
Read more about this topic: Susurluk Scandal, Background