Author: Robins, Philip

Source: The Middle East Journal, Volume 62, Number 4, Autumn 2008 , pp. 630-650(21)

Publisher: Middle East Institute

Abstract:

This article focuses on the issue of narcotics and Turkey over a 30-year period. Its point of departure is the 1970s, when the opium production crisis in Turkey, and its associated corrosion of relations with the US, had been brought to an end. The article concentrates on the period in the late 1980s/early to mid-1990s, when the hard drugs issue became fused with other security threats like terrorism and state corruption. During this dark period, Turkey's criminal organizations that were trafficking narcotics made significant inroads in alliance-building with parts of the security state. The article ends with the experiences of the late 1990s and early 2000s, when the Turkish state succeeded in containing the impact of illicit drugs. The article argues that both external but in particular internal factors were important in propelling the Turkish state towards purging itself of criminal elements involved with hard drugs. With respect to the latter, it argues that the need to safeguard the state, rather than the narcotics issue per se, was the key factor driving change.

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3751/62.4.14

Publication date: 2008-09-01

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• The Middle East Institute has published The Middle East Journal quarterly since 1947. The Journal provides original and objective research and analysis, as well as source material, on the area from Morocco to Pakistan and including Central Asia. The Journal provides the background necessary for an understanding and appreciation of the region's political and economic development, cultural heritage, ethnic and religious diversity.
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