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Hüseyin Baybaşin

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Hüseyin Baybaşin
Baybaşin in 2022
Born25 December 1956 (1956-12-25) (age 67)
Lice, Diyarbakır, Turkey
Other namesEurope's Pablo Escobar
Citizenship Turkey (before 2005)
 Netherlands (2005–today)
Criminal statusIn prison
Children4
Relatives
  • Abdullah Baybaşin (elder brother)
  • Sait Baybaşin (elder brother)
  • Sirin Baybaşin (little brother)
  • Mehmet Şerif Baybaşin (uncle)
  • Nedim Baybaşin (cousin)
  • Nizamettin Baybaşin (cousin)
  • Gıyasettin Baybaşin (nephew)
Conviction(s)
Criminal penaltyLife imprisonment

Hüseyin Baybaşin (born 25 December 1956) is a Kurdish drug lord and organised crime boss.

Following his drug trafficking in the 1990s, he made his name internationally. He was a notorious criminal against whom European states had issued search warrants. He is still serving a life sentence in the Netherlands, where he has been convicted since 2002.

He is referred to by the European press as the "Europe's Pablo Escobar" and strong family relationships were mentioned by commentators.

Early life[edit]

Mehmet Şerif Baybaşin in the 1960s

Hüseyin Baybaşin was born in Lice, Diyarbakır on December 25, 1956.[1] His family, like every other families in the district, was a poor Kurdish family with many children.[1][2][3] At the age of 14, he met his first drug, marijuana, and started smoking it.[1][4] When his elder brothers turned drugs into an illegal business, he became a drug dealer.

In the early 1970s, his uncle Mehmet Şerif Baybaşin started producing drugs by refining heroin in an isolated village in Lice.[5]

Crime bossing[edit]

In 1976, he was caught while transporting 11 kg (24 lb) hashish to Istanbul.[6] In 1984, he was arrested in the United Kingdom for smuggling drugs internationally on the basis of a fake passport.[6] He was sent from the United Kingdom to Turkey to serve his sentence but was released in 1989.

The rise[edit]

The cargo ship Kısmetim-1, allegedly carrying Baybaşin's drugs, was sunk by its captain in 1992 on the orders of Hüseyin Baybaşin

Baybaşin became particularly famous after the MV Kısmetim-1 shipwreck, which shook the public order in Turkey.[7] The Kısmetim-1 cargo ship, which was besieged by the Turkish Police, allegedly carrying ~3,100 kg (6,800 lb)[8] of base morphine to be smuggled to Turkey, was sunk by its crew in 1992.[9] The alleged drugs were never recovered.

In 1994, he fled to the United Kingdom to join his elder brother Abdullah Baybaşin and applied for asylum.[10] In 1995, he was arrested in the Rotterdam for dealing in firearms without a licence.[11]

By 1998, the Baybaşin brothers had amassed a fortune smuggling heroin to Europe. Hüseyin and Abdullah moved to North London and chose Amsterdam as their base.[5][11]

Falling[edit]

Entrance of Vught Prison, 2006

Baybaşin was captured with his nephew Gıyasettin Baybaşin in a villa in Lieshout, on 27 March 1998, in a joint operation codenamed "Black Tulip" by the British (MI6), Dutch (AIVD), Belgian (GISS), and German (BND) intelligence services.[12][11][13] He was initially placed in a regular detention centre in Rotterdam. On 26 June 1998, it was decided to place him in a high-security detention centre in Vught. His detention in Vught Prison was extended several times.[12]

Hüseyin Baybaşin and Gıyasettin Baybaşin were tried and found guilty of murder, hostage, racketeering, kidnapping, forgery, and drug trafficking on 10 February 2001.[14][13] Ton Derksen, a Dutch professor emeritus, got access to the telephone recordings which were presented as evidence.[15] According to him, the telephone recordings were manipulated.[16] Hüseyin Baybaşin was sentenced to 20 years' imprisonment, which was commuted to life imprisonment in July 2002.[17] Gıyasettin Baybaşin was sentenced to 11-year imprisonment.[18] Abdullah Baybaşin was convicted around the same time and imprisoned in the United Kingdom.[5]

On 24 December 2003, Hüseyin Baybaşin was transferred to another prison with a different regime.[citation needed] On 23 March 2004, a psychiatric report found that Baybaşin had developed various mental problems including chronic post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, and a strong tendency towards somatisation during his detention in the maximum security prison.[12]

In the same period, the State Security Court in Istanbul convicted Hüseyin Baybaşin and Gıyasettin Baybaşin, who were imprisoned in the Netherlands, and Hüseyin Baybaşin's cousin Nizamettin Baybaşin, who was sentenced to 15 years' imprisonment in Germany, on charges of forming a crimainal organisation, establishing a terrorist organisation, and exporting illegal drugs.[18][better source needed]

Personal life[edit]

Baybaşin has four children.[19] Baybaşin is an active supporter and financier of the PKK.[20]

In the European public opinion of the early 2000s he was constantly referred to as "Europe's Pablo Escobar" or "European Escobar".[2][21][22] Baybaşin renounced his Turkish citizenship in 2005.[23] And while in prison, he became a naturalised Dutch citizen.[24]

Wealth[edit]

In 1998, Hüseyin Baybaşin's fortune was known to be £18 million (£40 million in inflation adjusted 2024 pounds).[25][26] According to the reports of the Dutch police, Baybaşin owns movable and immovable property (1998):[25]

  • 5 cars, 3 pieces of valuable land, 2 furniture companies, and a house in the Netherlands.
  • A manor worth €6,000,000 in Belgium.
  • A hotel and house in England.
  • A vehicle worth 50,000 marks, land worth 400,000 marks, and a company in Germany.
  • Small plots of lands in Turkey worth $1,500,000 and a car worth $70,000.

It is estimated that Baybaşin invested a large part of his fortune in touristic resorts, luxury hotels, and nightclubs on the Mediterranean and Aegean coasts.[5]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c "En zengin Türk Gangster" (in Turkish). 2002-11-08. Retrieved 2024-07-11.
  2. ^ a b "Bir uyuşturucu imparatorluğunun çöküşü" (in Turkish). 2006-05-16. Retrieved 2024-07-11.
  3. ^ Baybaşin, Hüseyin (2021-11-22). HÜSEYİN BAYBAŞİN 25 YIL SONRA İLK KEZ CEZAEVİNDE RÖPORTAJ VERDİ (Video) (in Turkish). Netew TV. 03:33 minutes in.
  4. ^ "Baybaşin güç kaybetti" (in Turkish). 2003-01-01. Retrieved 2024-07-11.
  5. ^ a b c d Summers, Chris (April 7, 2006). "The rise and fall of a drugs empire". BBC News. Retrieved January 26, 2009.
  6. ^ a b Birand, Mehmet Ali (2021-05-10). Türkiye’de Uyuşturucu Dünyası ile Bürokrasi | Hüseyin Baybaşin | 1997 (Video) (in Turkish). 32.Gün. 17:55 minutes in.
  7. ^ "Keeping tabs on the Turkish connection". BBC News. November 14, 2002. Retrieved January 24, 2009.
  8. ^ "Kısmetim 1 Davasında Yeni Karar" (in Turkish). Archived from the original on July 17, 2011. Retrieved January 18, 2009.
  9. ^ Akyol, Fuat (January 5, 2004). "Nejat Daş Olayının Perde Arkası". Aksiyon (in Turkish). Archived from the original on February 23, 2007. Retrieved January 18, 2009.
  10. ^ Pallister, David (2006-05-15). "Turkish drug gang leader jailed for 22 years". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2016-02-10.
  11. ^ a b c "Hüseyin Baybaşin hakkında bilgi" (in Turkish). Türkçe Bilgi-Ansiklopedi. Retrieved January 25, 2009.[permanent dead link]
  12. ^ a b c "Baybasin v. The Netherlands". Netherlands Institute of Human Rights-Utrecht School of Law. Archived from the original on September 27, 2011. Retrieved January 31, 2009.
  13. ^ a b "Case reveals tampering with intercepted evidence". Statewatch bulletin monitoring civil liberties in the European Union. 12 (3). May–July 2002. Retrieved January 31, 2009.
  14. ^ "Hüseyin Baybaşin" (in Turkish). Cix1. Retrieved January 27, 2009.
  15. ^ Koch, Han (January 26, 2016). "Bewijs in zaak Koerdische Turk Baybasin 'was gemanipuleerd'". Trouw.
  16. ^ Haenen, Marcel (May 12, 2014). "'Vervalste telefoontaps gebruikt bij vervolging Huseyin Baybasin'". NRC.
  17. ^ Bennetto, Jason (February 17, 2006). "The wheelchair-bound Godfather who ruled Britain's heroin market". The Independent. London. Retrieved January 31, 2009.
  18. ^ a b "Hüseyin Baybaşin davasında karar haberi" (in Turkish). Haberler. May 9, 2008. Retrieved January 27, 2009.
  19. ^ Baybaşin, Hüseyin (2021-11-22). HÜSEYİN BAYBAŞİN 25 YIL SONRA İLK KEZ CEZAEVİNDE RÖPORTAJ VERDİ (Video) (in Turkish). Netew TV. 03:22 minutes in.
  20. ^ "Keeping tabs on the Turkish connection". BBC News. November 14, 2002. Retrieved January 24, 2009.
  21. ^ "Heroin dealer was secret informer for Customs and Excise". TheGuardian.com. 27 March 2006.
  22. ^ Carlson, Brian G (2005). "Huseyin Baybasin -- Europe's Pablo Escobar". SAIS Review of International Affairs. 25 (1): 69–70. doi:10.1353/sais.2005.0004. ISSN 1945-4724. Archived from the original on 2019-08-14. Retrieved 2021-06-26.
  23. ^ Laizer, Sheri (January 24, 2017). "Crushing The Kurds: Unraveling A Conspiracy". Ekurd.net. Retrieved January 24, 2017.
  24. ^ "25 YILDIR HOLLANDA'DA HAPİS YATAN BAYBAŞİN'İN, "HAK ETTİĞİ HALDE" NEDEN SERBEST BIRAKILMADIĞI TARTIŞILIYOR…". platformdergisi.com. 2023-11-06. Retrieved 2024-07-11.
  25. ^ a b Öztürk, Saygı (1998-03-31). "Baybaşin'in servetine el konuldu". Sabah (in Turkish). Retrieved 2024-07-12.
  26. ^ "Baybaşinler". 2002-06-10. Retrieved 2024-07-12.
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