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Türkiye brought back 526 people wanted internationally, including suspects subject to Interpol red notices, during the first seven months of 2026, according to Interior Ministry data compiled by Anadolu.
Operations conducted in 44 countries between Jan. 1 and July 16 resulted in the return of 499 suspects to Türkiye.
Another 27 people wanted internationally under red notices were brought back on July 28, raising the seven-month total to 526.
Of the initial 499 suspects returned to Türkiye, 225 were wanted for public order offenses, 194 for smuggling and organized crime, 71 for narcotics-related crimes and nine for terrorism offenses.
Authorities identified 123 of the suspects as leaders or members of organized criminal groups.
Among the nine people returned on terrorism-related charges, five were wanted over links to the PKK, two in connection with terrorist organizations exploiting religion and two over links to other terrorist groups.
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Interior Minister Mustafa Ciftci said criminals could not erase their tracks by fleeing abroad and that cooperation with relevant institutions and international counterparts would continue.
“Criminals should know this well: Trying to escape only changes the place where they will be caught,” Ciftci told Anadolu.
“As a result of the work coordinated by our Interior Ministry, we have brought 526 people wanted internationally, including under red notices, back to our country this year,” he said.
Ciftci said the result demonstrated Türkiye’s tracking capacity and effective international cooperation.
“We will continue to restrict the movement of those who threaten the peace of our nation, close their escape routes and bring wanted people back to our country,” he added.
Türkiye’s procedures involving internationally wanted suspects are handled by the Interpol-Europol Department of the Interior Ministry’s General Directorate of Security.
The department sends information about wanted individuals to authorities in other countries through Interpol channels and coordinates their arrest and return to Türkiye.
A red notice is an international request to locate a wanted person and provisionally arrest them pending extradition.
A diffusion is an urgent message used to send information about a wanted person directly to Interpol member countries.
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