Baybaşin family

This article is about the family. For surname, see Baybaşin. For language, see Baybayin.
Baybaşin family
ماڵباتا بەیباشین
Foundedc. 1960; 64 years ago (1960)
FounderSaid Baybaşin
Founding locationLice, Diyarbakır, Turkey
Years active1960s–present
TerritoryTurkey and Western Europe (Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, Netherlands, United Kingdom)
EthnicityKurdish
Membership (est.)10 permanent members,[1] 20+ hitman,[2] 550+ "sworn" men[3] (including Tekin Kartal)[4]
Leader(s)Abdullah Baybaşin
Activities
Allies
Rivals

The Baybaşin family (/bˈeɪbɑːʃˌɪn/ bei-bah-SHEEN; Kurdish: ماڵباتا بەیباشین, romanized: Mālbata Bāybašin)[b] is a Kurdish crime family. They were once referred to as "the most dangerous men in Europe". Noting in particular their strong family ties, the authorities argued that they were the best real-life examples of The Godfather movie.

Around 1960, Said Baybaşin formed a family union and stepped into criminal activities. In the late 1960s, he passed away and was replaced by his younger brother Mehmet Şerif Baybaşin. Since the profit of selling opium roots was low, he started to produce heroin in his isolated laboratories and grew his criminal organisation to the extent that it spread to Istanbul.

In the early 1990s, Hüseyin Baybaşin definitively took over the management and business of the family and actively managed it until the 2000s. During this time, he was mentioned in various scandals such as the Kısmetim-1 incident. When a red notice was issued against him in Turkey, he left the country in 1994, never to return. In 1997, his name was announced to the press by the British Home Office and a warrant was issued for his arrest. On 27 March 1998, he was captured in an operation in a mansion in Lieshout, Netherlands.

After the imprisonment of his elder brother Hüseyin Baybaşin, Abdullah Baybaşin temporarily ran the criminal affairs until his arrest in 2006. In 2011, he was freed from HM Prison Belmarsh after a surprise acquittal. In 2012, he returned to Turkey, where he had not set foot for years, and said that this return is permanent. In present-day, Abdullah Baybaşin is the active head of the Baybaşin family.

Etymology

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Look up باش in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

The name bēybāši has mainly two different meanings. With the first possibility, it is a combination of the Kurdo-Turkish word bēy (بای, 'guy' or 'mr.') and Kurdish word bāši (باش, 'good'), meaning 'good guy' or 'mr. good'.[5] With the second possibility, it is a combination of the Ottoman words bēy (بى, 'man') and bāš (باش, 'chief'), meaning 'chief man'.[6]

According to some sources, the name baybaş means 'rich', 'prominent', or 'respected person' in Turkish language.[7][8][9]

History

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The family's criminal roots were laid when Said Baybaşin, who was cultivating cannabis and opium poppy in Lice in circa 1960, wanted to establish a trade in this business.[10][11]

Said Baybaşin was born in Lice in 1935, one of eleven children of Hüseyin Ağa (b. 1908; before the Turkish surname law), a Kurdish farmer and landlord.[12] His father was a village headman and was nicknamed ağa.[12] He died in 1969 (aged 33–34) from an illness that left him bedridden for several years.[10][11][12] He led his family until his death and was revered by its members.[12]

1970s to 1980s

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Unlike his older brother Said, Mehmet Şerif "Khalo"[c] Baybaşin, the head of the family in the early 1970s, did not just sell opium roots and seeds.[13] He set up an amateur laboratory in an isolated village in Lice, where he succeeded in secretly obtaining base morphine (the raw material for heroin) from opium.[10][14]

In 1976, Mehmet Şerif Baybaşin's nephew Hüseyin Baybaşin was caught while transporting 24 lb (11 kg) of hashish to Istanbul.[15] On 23 May 1984, Hüseyin Baybaşin was arrested in Dover, United Kingdom, for smuggling drugs internationally using a fake passport and was sentenced to 12 years imprisonment.[15] He was sent from the United Kingdom to Turkey to serve his sentence but was released in 1989.[15]

On 6 May 1988, 476 lb (216 kg) of heroin and 1.9 lb (0.86 kg) of opium poppy belonging to Nizamettin Baybaşin, son of Mehmet Şerif Baybaşin, and intended to be sent by sea to Italy and the Netherlands, were seized in Istanbul.[10]

Mehmet Şerif Baybaşin led the family from the early 1970s to the late 1980s and named his nephew Hüseyin Baybaşin, who became increasingly famous in Europe, as his successor.[16]

The 1990s

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See also: Kısmetim-1 incident

Hüseyin Baybaşin became particularly famous after the MV Kısmetim-1 shipwreck, which shook the public order in Turkey.[17][18]

The Kısmetim-1 which was surrounded by the USS Briscoe-backed Turkish Coast Police, allegedly carrying ~6,800 lb (3,100 kg) of base morphine to be smuggled to Turkey, was sunk by its crew in 1992.[19] The captain, who admitted after police interrogation that he received the order from Baybaşin, did not accept the allegations about the presence of drugs on board.[20] Returning from Karachi, Kısmetim-1 had been tagged by the Turkish Narcotics Branch for some time. According to Police Investigators, the ship was going to export the goods from Karachi to Europe via Turkey.[21]

In 1994, Hüseyin Baybaşin fled to the United Kingdom to join his brother Abdullah Baybaşin and applied for asylum.[22] In 1995, he was arrested in Rotterdam, for dealing in firearms without a licence.[23] Hüseyin and Abdullah moved to North London and chose Amsterdam as their base.[23]

In the late 1990s, the Baybaşin brothers made a fortune smuggling heroin to Europe.[14] The Baybaşin brothers were placed on MI6's blacklist after being declared "the most dangerous brothers in Europe" by the British Home Office.[24][25]

2000s–present

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Hüseyin Baybaşin led the family from 1988 until his trial in 2002, which ended in life imprisonment.[16] After 2002, he led the family half-heartedly until 2012, but after 2012 he handed over the leadership to his brother Abdullah Baybaşin, who went into seclusion after serving his sentence and being released from prison.[1][26]

Abdullah Baybaşin had an active adolescence in a large family and became involved with drugs in his 20s.[27] In the 1990s he—like his brothers—was the talk of the European media.[citation needed]

In 2006, Abdullah Baybaşin was convicted of heroin trafficking and imprisoned, but was released from HM Prison Belmarsh in 2011, although he was sentenced to 22 years in prison. In 2012, he arrived in Turkey from the United Kingdom and landed at Ankara Esenboğa Airport. Abdullah Baybaşin adopted a more peaceful lifestyle and settled near the city centre of Diyarbakır.[28]

In May 2024, after the murder of the Kurdish gangster Tekin Kartal,[29] a drug trafficker loyal to the Baybaşins, the possible retaliation of the Baybaşin family gained Turkish media coverage.[4]

Members

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Leaders

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# Name Image Nickname Year of birth Status Occupation
1 Said Baybaşin none none 1935 Died in 1969 Farmer, then the drug producer
2 Mehmet Şerif Baybaşin none Khalo[13][c] 1944 Alive Heroin producer in the laboratory
3 Hüseyin Baybaşin Europe's Pablo Escobar 1956 Alive Drug baron
4
Abdullah Baybaşin
(current leader) 		The Godfather[30] 1960 Alive Drug trafficker

Others

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Name Year of birth Status Occupation
Emin Baybaşin 1942 Unknown Drug dealer
Mahmut Baybaşin 1954 Alive Drug dealer
Mehmet Baybaşin 1965 Alive Drug trafficker
Nedim Baybaşin Unknown Alive Unknown
Nizamettin Baybaşin 1963 Alive Drug trafficker
Gıyasettin Baybaşin 1976 Alive Drug dealer
Çağdaş Baybaşin 1985 Alive Unknown
Tekin Kartal 1990 Died in 2024 Drug trafficker

Family tree

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Hüseyin Ağa
Said Baybaşin
(founder)		Emin BaybaşinMehmet Şerif Baybaşin
(2nd leader)
Mahmut BaybaşinHüseyin Baybaşin
(3rd leader)
Abdullah Baybaşin
(current leader)		Mehmet Şirin BaybaşinNedim BaybaşinNizamettin Baybaşin
Gıyasettin BaybaşinÇağdaş Baybaşin

Wealth

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The wealth of the Baybaşin family is still a subject of much controversy and debate today. In 1998, the head of the family at that time, Hüseyin Baybaşin, was estimated to have a personal fortune of £9 billion (£20 billion in inflation adjusted 2024 pounds).[31][32][33][34] In the same year, the Baybaşin family's total assets were estimated at £38 billion (£84.5 billion in 2024 pounds), although this is open to debate.[35]

Abdullah Baybaşin argued that his family was not as wealthy as the media claimed, and that he had as much wealth as an average Diyarbakır family.[36] Baybaşin claimed that he earned all of his current fortune from a construction company he founded in Istanbul in 1987, while his earnings from drug trafficking after the 2000s were confiscated by the state.[37] However, in a report published by the Dutch police at the end of 1998, it was stated that all movable and immovable property had been sold to dozens of different persons who were Baybaşin members but who appeared to have no connection with them, and that the state was therefore unable to seize the property.[34][38]

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In the early 2000s, European and American public opinion repeatedly referred to Hüseyin Baybaşin, the head of the family at that time, as "Europe's Pablo Escobar"[14] or "European Escobar"[39] and strong family relationships were mentioned by commentators.[40]

Robin Plummer, the British prosecutor, made the following statement about Hüseyin Baybaşin and his family:

We watched him for eight months, it was like watching the movie The Godfather. Every day someone new would come and the first thing they would do was kiss Hüseyin Baybaşin's hand. The Baybaşin family terrorized other mafias in the UK for many years.[41]

The Baybaşin family was once referenced in the Valley of the Wolves, Turkey's most popular TV series about the mafia.[42][43]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b "10 Baybaşin cezaevinde" [10 Baybaşin in prison]. Milliyet. 21 May 2000. Retrieved 4 September 2024.
  2. ^ Baybaşin 2017, pp. 35, 37.
  3. ^ Evren Korkmaz, Derya (13 December 2023). "İstanbul'da Baybaşin suç örgütü çökertilmişti... Detaylar ortaya çıktı" [Baybaşin crime organization had been crushed in Istanbul ... Details emerged] (in Turkish). Hürriyet. Retrieved 7 September 2024.
  4. ^ a b "Uyuşturucu baronu infaz edildi: Baybaşinler'den intikam yemini". Avrupa Postasi (in Turkish). 12 May 2024. Retrieved 20 October 2024.
  5. ^ "Translation of "good" into Kurdish". glosbe.com. Retrieved 4 September 2024.
  6. ^ "Baş". Kubbealtı Lugatı (in Turkish). Retrieved 4 September 2024. Bir topluluğu yöneten kimse, başkan, reis. [One who leads a community, president, chief.]
  7. ^ "Baybaş isminin anlamı nedir, baybaş ne demektir? Kuran'da geçiyor mu?". bölgegündem.com (in Turkish). 17 July 2021. Retrieved 4 September 2024. [What is the meaning of the name Baybaş, what does Baybaş mean? Is it mentioned in the Quran?]
  8. ^ "Baybaş ne demek?". nedirnedemek.com (in Turkish). Retrieved 4 September 2024.
  9. ^ "Baybaş İsminin Anlamı Nedir?". ismininanlaminedirx.com (in Turkish). Retrieved 4 September 2024.
  10. ^ a b c d "Baybaşinler" [The Baybaşins]. Anadolu Türk İnterneti. 10 June 2002. Retrieved 11 July 2024.
  11. ^ a b "En zengin Türk Gangster" (in Turkish). 8 November 2002. Retrieved 11 July 2024.
  12. ^ a b c d Baybaşin 2017, pp. 10–11.
  13. ^ a b Baybaşin 2017, pp. 11.
  14. ^ a b c Summers, Chris (6 April 2006). "The rise and fall of a drugs empire". BBC News. Retrieved 26 January 2009.
  15. ^ a b c Birand, Mehmet Ali (10 May 2021). Türkiye’de Uyuşturucu Dünyası ile Bürokrasi | Hüseyin Baybaşin | 1997 (Video) (in Turkish). 32.Gün. 17:55 minutes in.
  16. ^ a b Baybaşin 2017, p. 21.
  17. ^ "Keeping tabs on the Turkish connection". BBC News. 14 November 2002. Retrieved 24 January 2009.
  18. ^ Alkaç, Fırat (5 January 2010). "Veli Küçük'ün Ortağı Çıktı". tevhidhaber.com. Taraf Agency. Retrieved 26 August 2024.
  19. ^ "Kısmetim 1 Davasında Yeni Karar" (in Turkish). Archived from the original on 17 July 2011. Retrieved 18 January 2009.
  20. ^ Akyol, Fuat (5 January 2004). "Nejat Daş Olayının Perde Arkası". Aksiyon (in Turkish). Archived from the original on 23 February 2007. Retrieved 18 January 2009.
  21. ^ Fıratlı, Nurhan (13 January 2001). "Yükümüzü Atom Sanıyordum" (in Turkish). Sabah. Retrieved 8 August 2024.
  22. ^ Pallister, David (15 May 2006). "Turkish drug gang leader jailed for 22 years". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 10 February 2016.
  23. ^ a b "Hüseyin Baybaşin hakkında bilgi" (in Turkish). Türkçe Bilgi-Ansiklopedi. Retrieved 25 January 2009.[permanent dead link‍]
  24. ^ "Uyuşturucu baronu Baybaşin'e tahliye... İngiltere en tehlikeli adam ilan etmişti" (in Turkish). Cumhuriyet. 2 October 2017. Retrieved 5 September 2024.
  25. ^ Sevinç, Hanife (4 January 2014). "Abdullah Baybaşin'e 40 yıl 5 ay hapis cezası" [Abdullah Baybaşin sentenced to 40 years and 5 months] (in Turkish). Anadolu Agency. Retrieved 7 September 2024. İngiltere İçişleri Bakanlığı tarafından 'en tehlikeli adam' ilan edilen Abdullah Baybaşin … [Abdullah Baybaşin, declared 'the most dangerous man' by the British Home Office …]
  26. ^ Baybaşin 2017, p. 23.
  27. ^ Baybaşin 2017, p. 9.
  28. ^ Baybaşin 2017, p. 15.
  29. ^ Akman, Zehra Boğatekin; Çetin, Ramazan (5 May 2024). "Tekin Kartal kimdir? Tekin Kartal nerede öldürüldü?". WanHaber (in Turkish). Retrieved 20 October 2024.
  30. ^ Brown, David (23 October 2010). "Courts in crisis: Britain's 'heroin godfather' is freed after smuggling retrial collapses". The Sunday Times. Retrieved 8 September 2024.
  31. ^ Reijden, Joël (31 October 2024). "Dutch Joris Demmink Affair Reveals Heroin ..." The Institute for Studies in Global Prosperity (ISGP) (in Dutch and English). Retrieved 16 October 2024.
  32. ^ Öztürk, Saygı (31 March 1998). "Baybaşin'in Servetine El Konuldu". Sabah (in Turkish). Retrieved 12 July 2024.
  33. ^ Thompson, Tony (17 November 2002). "Heroin 'Emperor' Brings Terror to U.K. Streets". The Guardian. Retrieved 28 August 2024.
  34. ^ a b "İşte Baybaşin'in Malları!" [Here are Baybaşin's Assets!]. Milliyet (in Turkish). 10 April 1998. Retrieved 4 September 2024.
  35. ^ Posch, Walter (28 October 2020). "Organised Crime in Turkey: Narcos Turkey". Zenith.
  36. ^ Baybaşin 2017, pp. 36–37, 39.
  37. ^ Baybaşin 2017, p. 40.
  38. ^ "Levenslang veroordeelde Baybaşin" (in Dutch). de Rechtspraak. 28 August 2018. Retrieved 26 August 2024.
  39. ^ Carlson, Brian G. (2005). "Huseyin Baybasin—Europe's Pablo Escobar". Project Muse. Vol. 25 (1 ed.). Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.: Johns Hopkins University Press. pp. 69–70. doi:10.1353/sais.2005.0004. ISSN 1945-4724. Retrieved 28 August 2024.
  40. ^ "Heroin dealer was secret informer for Customs and Excise". TheGuardian.com. 27 March 2006.
  41. ^ "Dava 7 yılda bitmedi, Abdullah Baybaşin tahliye oldu". Haberturk (in Turkish). 2 October 2017. Retrieved 13 July 2024. Savcı Plummer: Sekiz ay boyunca onu izledik, sanki The Godfather filmini izliyor gibiydik. Her gün yeni biri gelirdi ve ilk iş Hüseyin Baybaşin'in elini öpmek olurdu. Baybaşin ailesi uzun yıllar boyunca BK'deki diğer mafyalara korku saldı.
  42. ^ "Kurtlar Vadisinde, Hangi karakter Kimi Oynuyor?". hepimizbiriz.com (in Turkish). Retrieved 26 August 2024.
  43. ^ Gemiyi Batırıyoruz ! - Kurtlar Vadisi | 47.Bölüm (in Turkish). YouTube. 27 September 2022. 6:02 minutes in. Retrieved 13 July 2024.

Notes

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  1. ^ in England, especially with the Arifs
  2. ^ Kurdish: [malbˈɑːtɑː bɑːjbɑːʃin] ⓘ
  3. ^ a b from Kurdish xālo 'Uncle', [xɑːɫoː]

Works cited

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