Minister: Turkey seeks to strengthen cooperation in fight against crimes
Anatolia news agency, Ankara
28 Sep 04
Istanbul, 28 September: Turkish Interior Minister Abdulkadir Aksu
said that international community comprehended the importance of
fight against “transborder crimes”.
The conference “International Initiative Against Smuggling of Drugs
and Money Laundering”, organized by Turkish Police Department and
Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) of the United States, started today at
the Istanbul Hilton Hotel.
Making opening remarks of the conference, Minister Aksu said that
Turkey hosted a conference on fight against drug smuggling for the
second time in the last two months.
Stating that those who committed crimes beyond borders use high
technology, Aksu said that they noticed that crime organizations use
more sophisticated methods as technology progress. Aksu stressed that
Turkey has been exerting efforts to fight against drug smuggling for
years by using the most advanced technology.
Stating that Turkish government aimed to strengthen infrastructure
and institutionalize the fight against crimes, he noted that they
expected security forces to be more professional in fight against
drug trafficking. “Crime is a universal concept. It does not have
nationality, religion, race or border. Fight against drug smuggling
should also be universal. Success achieved in this area should be
perceived as a success of international community. Countries should
support each other,” he stressed.
Aksu said that Turkish government supported coordination between
Turkish security department and departments of other countries,
noting that they expected other countries to assume a similar approach.
Noting that Turkey’s International Academy against Drugs and Organized
Crime (TADOC) was established with the cooperation of the UN, Aksu
said that Turkey shared its information and experience in fight against
illicit drug trafficking and organized crimes with regional countries
through TADOC.
Aksu said that Turkish police confiscated 5 tons of heroin in 2003 and
6.8 tons of heroin in 2004, noting that the increase in the amount of
heroin seized by the police demonstrates efforts deployed by Turkish
security forces and high tech techniques used against drug smugglers.
Nearly 100 people from Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria,
Germany, Greece, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Romania,
Russia, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, Britain, the United
States and Uzbekistan are attending the conference.
Turkish Police Department Chief Gokhan Aydiner said that Turkey
was ready to undertake more initiative in fight against drug
smuggling. Indicating that “drug trafficking was a global problem
and fight against it should also be global”, Aydiner said that
“international cooperation meant that countries should exchange
intelligence with each other”. Aydiner said that “Turkey would be glad
to contribute to training and regional proactive fight against drug
smuggling”, adding that “it also wanted to undertake a more active
role on this issue”.
On the other hand, DEA Administrator Karen P. Tandy said that
“they cooperated with many countries in fight against drug
trafficking”. Stating that DEA had offices in 60 countries, Tandy
said that “they are happy because Turkey was a powerful partner in
fight against drug trafficking”.