Turkey targets four new-generation crime groups in Antalya and Kayseri, detaining 42 suspects

Turkish authorities detained 42 suspects in coordinated operations against four crime groups described by officials as “new generation” organizations in Antalya and Kayseri.

Justice Minister Akın Gürlek said an operation in Antalya targeted 14 people accused of praising the groups’ violent and threatening methods on social media or sharing posts about taking part in their actions. Ten suspects were detained, and police found illegal drugs during searches.

In Kayseri, authorities carried out simultaneous raids across five provinces against a group investigators linked to 89 separate criminal acts affecting 68 victims. All 32 targeted suspects were detained. Searches uncovered weapons, ammunition, checks, promissory notes, digital materials and drugs.

Gürlek thanked the prosecutors’ offices and police departments in Antalya and Kayseri, along with the public personnel involved in the operations. “We will not allow any structure that tries to draw our young people into the web of criminal organizations, normalize violence, or present crime as a source of power and prestige,” he wrote.

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We will not allow any structure that tries to draw our young people into the web of criminal organizations, normalize violence, or present crime as a source of power and prestige.