Turkey has maintained its position as one of the world’s most criminalized countries, ranking 10th out of 193 nations in the 2025 Global Organized Crime Index, released Monday by the Geneva-based Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime (GI-TOC), Turkish Minute reported.
The biennial index, first published in 2021, measures countries’ levels of criminality and resilience to organized crime across three categories: criminal markets, criminal actors and state and societal resilience.
In the 2025 edition Turkey scored 7.20 out of 10 for criminality, significantly higher than the global average of 5.08, indicating a strong presence of illicit markets and well-established criminal networks. Its resilience score, reflecting the state’s ability to withstand and combat organized crime, stood at 3.96, below the global average of 4.78.
The report ranked Turkey third among 46 countries in Asia and second among 14 in Western Asia for criminality. Its resilience ranking was 25th in Asia and eighth in Western Asia.
Turkey’s scores have remained unchanged since the first two editions of the index in 2021 and 2023, when it also ranked 10th globally for criminality and 131st for resilience, suggesting a persistent pattern of high criminal activity and weak institutional response.
Global rankings
According to the 2025 index Myanmar topped the list as the world’s most criminalized country, with a score of 8.08, followed by Colombia (7.82), Mexico (7.68), Ecuador (7.48) and Paraguay (7.48).
At the other end of the scale, the countries with the lowest levels of organized crime were the Marshall Islands (2.28), Liechtenstein (2.10), São Tomé and Príncipe (1.80), Nauru (1.72) and Tuvalu, revealing the contrast between small, stable states and regions with long-standing illicit economies.
Turkey’s score of 7.20 places it just below the top tier of countries most affected by organized crime, indicating a continuing trend of extensive illicit markets and limited resilience.
A safe haven for criminals
Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and its ally, the far-right Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), are accused of turning the country into a safe haven for international criminals.
Lax laws on money laundering, easy access to citizenship and insufficient prosecution are cited as reasons that have led Turkey to grow more attractive for international criminal networks in recent years.
Turkey’s current interior minister, Ali Yerlikaya, who took office in June 2023, frequently announces the capture of some international criminals sought by INTERPOL in Turkey on his social media account.
Yerlikaya’s predecessor, Süleyman Soylu, has faced accusations of maintaining close ties with underworld figures. During his time in office several prominent gang leaders were released from prison, turning Turkey into a haven for international criminals, particularly from Serbia, Albania, Azerbaijan, Russia and Montenegro.
The 2025 index warns that organized crime continues to undermine democracy, state sovereignty and global security, as criminal networks exploit geopolitical tensions, technological advances and weak governance.
“Organized crime is undermining democracy, the sovereignty of states, and even international peace and security,” said Mark Shaw, executive director of GI-TOC. “Criminal groups are some of the biggest profiteers of global disruption.”
The report reveals a rise in nonviolent forms of organized crime, including financial and cyber-related offenses, which have become more sophisticated and embedded in transnational financial systems. It also notes the growing prevalence of counterfeit goods, driven by inflation, economic instability and trade disputes.
GI-TOC also identified the increasing mobility of foreign criminal actors and their cross-border cooperation, while private-sector entities — particularly in logistics, finance and technology — play an expanding role in facilitating illegal activity.
Despite these developments, the index says international cooperation against organized crime is weakening amid what it describes as “a fractured international system and a retreat from multilateralism.”
GI-TOC says that while criminal markets are expanding globally, resilience scores have largely plateaued, underscoring the need for stronger governance, civil-society engagement and international coordination.
“The trajectories of crime can be changed,” Shaw said. “By strengthening key areas of resilience, states can reduce the influence of criminal actors and shift societies in a more positive direction.”
