Intensive flow of narcotics generated significant amounts of dirty money in Turkish economy. The total retail value of the seized drugs is around $1.1 billion for heroin, $ 1.2 billion for cannabis, $44 million for cocaine and $110 million for the ATS (Ekici, 2013b).
By Behsat Ekici
Drug
trafficking is an ever growing international security conundrum. Transnational
crime syndicates have proved to be extremely resilient to counter-narcotics
initiatives. Despite the efforts of national and international institutions,
enormous amounts of drugs are produced, trafficked and consumed throughout the
world. Transnational crime syndicates manufacture new psychoactive substances
when the governments increase controls over existing drugs. Annual number of
drug-related deaths has increased to 250,000 globally. Illicit drug trade
proved to be an insidious threat that finances terrorism, instigates
corruption, undermines economic development and erodes state authority.
Image Attribute: Operation "Hera" Cannabis Seize / Source: Yasin Dikmen - Anatolia News Agency
Even though
many international analysts recognized the threat of transnational crime in the
immediate aftermath of the Cold War, international drug trafficking has been a
major challenge for Turkey since 1970s (Erdinc, 2004). The scale and the nature
of the drug threat changed in accordance with the macro-level changes in
European and Near Eastern markets. Turkey’s precipitated economic integration
with the neighboring markets provided ample opportunities for illicit drug
transportation. Transnational organized crime groups (TOCs) increasingly
exploited the free movement of people, legitimate businesses and foreign trade
(Ekici & Unlu, 2013). In this context, the number of drug interdictions in
Turkey increased more than 16-fold over the past ten years, from 5,052 in 2003
to 83,135 in 2012 (TUBIM, 2012). The exponential growth of the drug problem is
also clearly visible in the number of drug-related arrests. In 2003, Turkish
agencies arrested 10,855 people for drug-related crimes and the number of
drug-related arrests increased 12 folds over the past ten years (130,049 in
2012) (TUBIM, 2012).
Image Attribute: Turkey's "Golden Crescent" Drug/Narcotics Transit
Map
Turkey lies
along the well-known Balkan Route of Afghan heroin destined for the European
markets. International security literature discussed various aspects of the
heroin trade throughout Turkey for more than three decades. In the recent
years, however, the flow of narcotics has diversified and the TOCs began to
transport other types of drugs such as amphetamine-type stimulants, cocaine and
cannabis via Turkey (TUBIM, 2012). Seizures of these substances increased
sharply over the past decade. Moreover, the profiles of the traffickers
diversified and increasing numbers of Europeans, West Africans, Iranians, Latin
Americans and Central Asians have been arrested for drug trafficking via
Turkish territories (Ekici, 2013b).
Despite the
exponential growth of drug-related crimes, Turkish National Security Council
(MGK) perceives narcotics as a secondary threat. Indeed, illicit narcotics
trade is perceived as a national security agenda to the extent that it is
associated with financing of terrorism (Ekici, 2014). In line with the
perceptions of the MGK members, security literature dealt mainly with terrorism
and external security threats. There is a dearth of academic works in Turkey
explaining the national security implications of drugs and transnational
organized crime. This study aims to fill an important gap in Turkish and
international security literature through extensive field research on national
security repercussions of transnational drug trade.
Economic
development is a principal agenda in national security councils throughout the
world. For Buzan (1991a), economic strength ensures purchase of weapons,
equipment and recruitment of law enforcement and military staff. Moreover,
strategic power projections of the states rely on the sustainable economic
backup. As in the cases of Afghanistan and Guinea Bissau, the states often fail
to provide security to its citizens when there is lack of economic resources.
Underpaid law enforcement and military officers often fight for the drug lords
rather than their governments (Williams & Felhab-Brown, 2012).
Intensive flow
of narcotics generated significant amounts of dirty money in Turkish economy.
The total retail value of the seized drugs is around $1.1 billion for heroin, $
1.2 billion for cannabis, $44 million for cocaine and $110 million for the ATS
(Ekici, 2013b). The interviewed experts reported that the interdiction ratio in
Turkey is around 20 percent. Once we add the non-interdicted substances, the
scale of drug money increases sharply. The total annual of drug generated money
is estimated around $15 billion (Ekici, 2013).
At first
glance, it might be argued that the drug trade bolsters financial reserves,
generates capital and creates employment, which accrues to overall economic
growth. In reality however, drug money has no significant macroeconomic push
effect and makes no meaningful contribution to the prosperity of the Turkish
community. High-risk high-gain nature of illicit drug business hinders
sustainable input into productive sectors of the national economy. Drug
production and trafficking undermine export oriented sectors and currency
stability. Illicit drug economy can have direct and indirect costs on the
nations. Field investigations revealed that it undermines economic development
and financial stability in Turkey in several respects.
First, drug
generated money is ex-filtrated out of the pockets of Turkish taxpayers and
transferred to transnational criminal networks. The money is never taxed and
used for sustainable investments. Organized crime syndicates exploit the money
to purchase additional drugs, weapons and shell companies. On many occasions,
drug money is invested in off-shore banks, casinos and hotels in Cyprus,
Switzerland, Iraq, UAE and Central Asia (Yetim, 2000). Drug money is mostly
untraceable, as it transferred through Havala system, mainly by means of
jewelers and exchange shops. Astute traffickers never buy properties on their
names. Real estates, cars and land are registered on one of the relatives. A
significant portion of the money has been spent for hiring gunmen, concealment
makers, couriers and new vehicles for transportation. Major drug traffickers
have a common tendency of buying luxury goods such as gold watches, weapons and
expensive cars. This creates inflation in the districts where there is
intensive drug trade. For instance, an investigator in Diyarbakır province reported
that drug trade had significant impact on apartment rents (Interview with a
drug investigator, on April 2, 2013, Ankara). Drug criminals pay exorbitant
prices for apartments in the city center. This drew up the prices and average
people have hard time paying the rents.
Second, drug
trade generates an unrestrained and large black market. The uncontrolled and
untaxed money downgrades financial stability. Turkish economy has undergone
several crises due to immediate outflow of liquid money. The most dramatic
crisis erupted in 2001 when top executives engulfed in prolonged conflicts how
to tackle with the unregistered economy and underground markets. Many Turkish
experts believe that drug trafficking generates the largest flow of dirty money
in black markets (Yetim, 2000; Erdiç, 2004). This money is handled by criminal
figures that are expert at evaporating money when they face financial crisis or
strong enforcement. Immediate outflow of black money was a major problem for Turkish
economy during the 1980s and 1990s. Due to high liquidity of drug money Turkish
state failed to build healthy macroeconomic planning. However, the sound fiscal
policies of the governments in the new millennium prevented eruption of crisis
for this reason. Currently annual turnover of drugs constitute 0.013% of the
national GDP (PPP) and immediate withdrawal of the dirty money poses no
significant challenges to financial stability.
Third, drug
consumption erodes productivity of the labor force. There is no existing study
in Turkey that calculates the productivity loss caused by drug consumption.
Moreover, there is lack of official data on the financial costs of illicit drug
trade and abuse. According to TUBIM, lifetime prevalence of drugs is 2.7% among
the people aged 15-65. Various other studies indicated that nearly 1-3% of the
population used drugs in the last year (TUBIM, 2011). When we exclude the
children and elderly the total number of drug users is estimated around 1
million in Turkey. Given the $17,000 GDP per capita, 1 million people can
generate 17 billion dollars. Around 30% productivity loss brings 5.1 billion
costs to Turkish economy. However, there is no available data on the economic
costs of drug-related absenteeism, impaired performance, disciplinary problems,
premature mortality, treatment, hospitalization, incarceration, homicides and
violence. Demand reduction experts assert that the aggregate economic cost of
drug abuse is larger than 7 billion dollars (Interview with a demand reduction
expert, June 25, 2005, Ankara).
There are
various un-calculated collateral costs of drug abuse in Turkey. Drug abuse
undermines social values, national cohesion and contribution of citizens to the
prosperity of the community. It is difficult to calculate the costs of
dissolution of families and psychological impact on the other members of the
family. Needle exchange and uncontrolled sex among the drug users is a major
drive of the spread of HIV/AIDS, nevertheless there is no study measuring the
costs of drug induced HIV infections in Turkey. Drug-driven problems reduce the
number of vibrant employees among the college graduates and undermine the
quality of workforce. As it leads to school dropouts and under-performance,
significant amount of money invested in education is wasted.
Fourth,
illicit drug markets generate economic employment for approximately 300,000
people, who have no insurance and job security. Over the long term, bulk of the
drug users turn into street dealers to maintain their habits. Government
statistics indicate that even larger numbers of people are trapped in perpetual
drug related recruitment. Once the young adults are convicted of drug-related
crimes, it becomes highly unlikely for them to get employment in the public
sector. Drug addicts and traffickers are the last choice for recruiters even in
the private sector. Almost all of the interviewed Turkish drug enforcement
experts emphasized that a vast majority of drug convicts are re-deployed in the
trafficking schemes. Once the drug traffickers professionalize in the sector,
they become “path dependent”, either for the reason of being unable to get
re-employed in licit economy or for the reason of their expertise in illicit
trade. They build all professional relationship with drug suppliers,
transporters, concealment makers and distributors. Another factor is the
contempt of the money generated in the legal sector. A professionalized drug
dealer earns millions of dollars in a year, which is extremely higher than they
could earn in a “blue collar” job. Monthly salaries of average workers range
between $500 and $2,000 dollars. The sharp contrast between the licit and
illicit income is a primary incentive for recidivism, which undermines the
productive workforce of the Turkish community.
Fifth,
prolonged and intensive smuggling activities retarded emergence of a
fully-fledged market economy, sustainable development and employment in
Southeastern Anatolia Region. It led to a “Dutch disease” where reliance on the
illicit sector hindered development of other core sectors that drive regional
economic development. Bulk of the smuggling activities are clustered in the
provinces bordering Iran and Iraq. Thousands of families in these provinces are
dependent on sustainability of trans-border trafficking of illicit substances
such as tea, oil, heroin and cannabis. Even though drug trafficking generated a
super wealthy elite, it exacerbated income disparities. The region is the least
developed part of Turkey and GDP per capita is less than a third of Istanbul
($4,400 vs. $18,100) (TUIK, 2013). Reliance on illicit activities created a
vicious cycle of dirty money and under investment in licit production industry.
The legal entrepreneurs are outbid in contracts by the new “businessmen” who
earned enormous amounts of money from illicit drug trade.
Sixth, drug
enforcement, correction and treatment inflict significant economic burdens on
the government. According to TUBIM, identified economic costs of drug
enforcement exceed 564,000,000 Turkish liras per year (TUBIM, 2011). A daily
cost of an inmate is around 25 liras ($12) and there are nearly 25,000
drug-related prisoners. The annual total cost of drug convicts in prisons is
calculated to be around 228,125,000 liras (aproximately $110 million). With all
the unidentified expenses, the fight against the drug problem costs more than a
billion Turkish liras (approximately $ 560 million). The sharp increase in
consumption and trafficking indicates that the drug threat will inflict even
higher economic costs to the Turkish state.
A real
challenge for Turkey is insufficiency of investigations on financial proceeds
of drug related crimes. Currently, Proceeds of Crime Unit of KOM and Financial
Crimes Investigation Board (MASAK) are the two principal institutions in charge
of money laundering investigations and asset recovery. There is a limited
number of investigators at the center and provincial units of these
organizations. Turkish law enforcement agencies carry out approximately 80,000
counter-narcotics operations per year. It is unlikely for the investigators to
conduct follow up money laundering investigations after every drug
interdictions. Moreover, financial investigations and asset recovery processes
are long lasting and cumbersome as the Turkish State has the burden of proof.
Only limited numbers of confiscations and asset recovery can be made each year
in drug trafficking cases. This is a major barrier in neutralizing the
activities of criminal organizations. Even though the drug traffickers are imprisoned
for several years, they maintain financial power to keep up with illicit activities.
Security
paradigms have been shifting over the past three decades. Drug trafficking
became a paramount security challenge for the global community. Drug
trafficking undermines the fundamental security interests of the states. In
many parts of the world, transnational drug networks undermine political
stability, territorial integrity and economic development. Drug traffickers
operate in a borderless terrain. Even though the states have official border
checks, transnational traffickers find different ways of avoiding controls and
interdiction of the illicit transshipments. Many of the criminal organizations
turn into transnational criminal corporations for a systematic avoidance of
state controls.
Even though
drug trafficking is often perceived as a “soft” threat, it can undermine the
states’ ability to fight against “hard” military security challenges. Along
with the conventional threats, Turkish National Security Council should place
more emphasis on the increasing drug consumption and trafficking. Internal
crime-fare should be perceived as serious as an external warfare. The MGK’s
failure to respond the drugs problem will exacerbate the volume of threat to an
unprecedented level. Turkish government should develop new partnerships with
the relevant states to counter the drug problem.
About The
Author:
Behsat Ekici,
Department of Anti-Smuggling and Organized Crime, General Directorate of
Security, Turkey
Correspondence:
Behsat Ekici, Department of Anti-Smuggling and Organized Crime, General
Directorate of Security, Turkey.
Acknowledgements
The author is
grateful to Dr. Fazli Gökçegöz, Director of Central Narcotics of KOM for his
permission on data collection and support for the research. Author also thanks
statisticians Muhammet Demirci, Erdal Erez and Erdal Karasu for their
assistance in data collection and analysis process.
Publication
Details:
Journal of
Politics and Law; Vol. 7, No. 2; 2014 ISSN 1913-9047 E-ISSN 1913-9055
Published
by Canadian Center of Science and Education.
This is an open-access article
distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution
license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/).
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