Interior Minister Mustafa Çiftçi
Interior Minister Mustafa Çiftçi was expected to travel to Athens on Oct. 8 for talks with Greek officials on strengthening cooperation against transnational crime, terrorist organizations and emerging criminal gangs, according to Turkish Interior Ministry sources.
Çiftçi was scheduled to meet Greek Minister for Migration and Asylum Thanos Plevris and Minister for Citizen Protection Michalis Chrisochoidis during his visit.
The talks are expected to focus on joint measures to combat cross-border crime and criminal networks, as well as ways to step up cooperation between the two countries.
The Turkish and Greek officials will also discuss the extradition of members of criminal gangs and ways to improve coordination in this area, the sources said.
The visit comes as Greek authorities have reported a series of attacks in the country this year allegedly linked to Turkish-origin criminal gangs.
Greek officials have said that some of the incidents were part of a broader network of Turkish criminal organizations operating in Greece.
According to Greek authorities, between 300 and 400 people linked to these groups are currently active in the country.
Çiftçi has recently intensified Türkiye’s security contacts with neighboring countries as part of efforts to combat transnational crime. He visited Bulgaria and Georgia in recent months to discuss cooperation in the fight against criminal networks.
The Turkish minister last visited Athens in April for a trilateral meeting with Plevris and Bulgarian Interior Minister Emil Dechev on security issues affecting the three neighboring countries.
Türkiye has also stepped up efforts to bring fugitives back to the country. Turkish Justice Minister Akın Gürlek said Türkiye extradited 89 fugitives from 16 countries in the third quarter of 2026, bringing the total number of people returned to Türkiye during the first nine months of the year to 294.
Georgia accounted for the largest number of extraditions, with 48 fugitives returned to Türkiye, followed by Germany with 12, Greece with 10 and the United Kingdom with three.
