Baybaşin family
مالباتا بایماسین | |
| |
| Founded | c. 1960 |
|---|---|
| Founder | Said Baybaşin |
| Founding location | Lice, Diyarbakır, Turkey |
| Years active | 1960s–today |
| Territory | Turkey and Western Europe (Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, United Kingdom) |
| Ethnicity | Kurdish |
| Leader(s) | Abdullah Baybaşin |
| Activities | |
| Allies | |
| Rivals | |
The Baybaşin family (/ˈbeɪjbɑːʃin/ bei-bah-SHEEN; Kurdish: مالباتا بایماسین, romanized: Mālbata Bāybašin) is a Kurdish crime family.[1] The Baybaşins were once referred to in the newspapers as "the most dangerous brothers":[2] The Baybaşins were particularly noted for their strong family ties, so much so that prosecutors and investigators argued that they were the best real-life example of The Godfather.[3]
Etymology
[edit]The name bēybāši has mainly two different meanings. With the first possibility, it is a combination of the Kurdish words bēy (بای, "guy" or "mr.") and bāši (باش, "good"), meaning "mr. good" or "good guy".[4] With the second possibility, it is a combination of the Ottoman words bēy (بى, “man”) and bās (باش, “chief”), meaning “chief man”.[5]
According to some sources, the name baybaş means “rich”, “prominent”, or “respected person” in Turkish.[6][7][8]
History
[edit]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.[9][10] When Said Baybaşin became ill and bedridden in the late 1960s, his brother Mehmet Şerif Baybaşin and his sons Mahmut, Hüseyin, Abdullah, and Mehmet took over the business.[9][10]
1970s and '80s
[edit]In the early 1970s, Mehmet Şerif Baybaşin started producing drugs by refining heroin in an isolated village in Lice.[10][11]
In 1976, Hüseyin Baybaşin was caught while transporting 24 lb (11 kg) hashish to Istanbul.[12] On 23 May 1984, he was arrested in Dover, United Kingdom for smuggling drugs internationally on the basis of a fake passport and sentenced to 12 years imprisonment.[12] He was sent from the United Kingdom to Turkey to serve his sentence but was released in 1989.[12]
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]
Leaders
[edit]| Name | Image | Nickname | Born | Died | Occupation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Said Baybaşin | none | none | 1935, Lice | 1969 (aged 33–34) | Farmer, then the drug producer |
| Mehmet Şerif Baybaşin | 
|
Xalo (Kurdish): "Uncle" | 1944 (age 79–80), Lice | alive | Heroin producer in the laboratory |
| Hüseyin Baybaşin | 
|
Europe's Pablo Escobar | 25 December 1956, Lice | alive | Drug baron |
| Abdullah Baybaşin (current leader) |
|
The Godfather | 1960 (age 63–64), Lice | alive | Drug trafficker |
Said Baybaşin was born in Lice, one of eleven children of Hüseyin "Agha" Baybaşin (b. 1908), a Kurdish farmer and landlord.[13] His father was a village headman and was nicknamed agha.[13] He led his family until his death and was revered by its members.[13] He died in 1969 from an illness that left him bedridden for several years, but it is not known where he died.[13]
Mehmet Şerif Baybaşin was born in Lice, the younger brother of Said Baybaşin. Unlike his brother Said, instead of selling opium roots and seeds, he created an amateur laboratory in an isolated village and succeeded in extracting base morphine from opium. He led the family from the early 1970s to the late 1980s and named his nephew Hüseyin Baybaşin, who became increasingly famous in Turkey, as his successor. He has one known son, Nizamettin Baybaşin (b. 1963).
Hüseyin Baybaşin was born in Lice, the second son of Said Baybaşin after Mahmut (b. 1954). He became acquainted with marijuana at a young age and became both a user and a seller of the drug. He led the family from 1988 until his trial in 2002, which ended in life imprisonment. 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.
Abdullah Baybaşin was born in Lice, the third son of Said Baybaşin. He had an active adolescence in a large family and became involved with drugs in his 20s.[14] In the 1990s he, like his brothers, was the talk of the European media. In 2006 he was convicted of heroin trafficking and imprisoned, but was released in 2011, although he had been sentenced to 22 years in prison. In 2012, he arrived in Turkey from the United Kingdom and landed at Ankara Esenboğa Airport. He adopted a more peaceful lifestyle and settled near the city centre of Diyarbakır. Today, according to the media defence, he is the active head of the Baybaşin family.
Members
[edit]Family tree
[edit]- Hüseyin "Ağa" Baybaşin
- Said Baybaşin
- Mahmut Baybaşin
- Gıyasettin Baybaşin (b. 1976)
- Hüseyin Baybaşin
- Abdullah Baybaşin
- Çağdaş Baybaşin (b. 1985)
- Mehmet Baybaşin
- Mahmut Baybaşin
- Emin Baybaşin (b. 1942)
- Nedim Baybaşin
- Mehmet Şerif Baybaşin
- Nizamettin Baybaşin
- Said Baybaşin
References
[edit]- ^ "10 Baybaşin cezaevinde" [10 Baybasin in prison]. Milliyet. 21 May 2000. Retrieved 4 September 2024.
- ^ "Uyuşturucu baronu Baybaşin'e tahliye... İngiltere en tehlikeli adam ilan etmişti" (in Turkish). Cumhuriyet. 2 October 2017. Retrieved 5 September 2024.
- ^ "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.
- ^ "Translation of "good" into Kurdish". glosbe.com. Retrieved 4 September 2024.
- ^ "Baş". Kubbealtı Lugatı (in Turkish). Retrieved 4 September 2024.
Bir topluluğu yöneten kimse, başkan, reis.
[One who leads a community, president, chief.] - ^ "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?]
- ^ "Baybaş ne demek?". nedirnedemek.com (in Turkish). Retrieved 4 September 2024.
- ^ "Baybaş İsminin Anlamı Nedir?". ismininanlaminedirx.com (in Turkish). Retrieved 4 September 2024.
- ^ a b "En zengin Türk Gangster" (in Turkish). 8 November 2002. Retrieved 11 July 2024.
- ^ a b c d "Baybaşinler". Anadolu Türk İnterneti. 10 June 2002. Retrieved 11 July 2024.
- ^ Summers, Chris (6 April 2006). "The rise and fall of a drugs empire". BBC News. Retrieved 26 January 2009.
- ^ 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.
- ^ a b c d Baybaşin 2017, pp. 10–11.
- ^ Baybaşin 2017, p. 9.
Works cited
[edit]- Baybaşin, Abdullah (2017). Ailemize Karşı Başlatılan Operasyonlar. Pêrî Yayınları. ISBN 9786059649100.