Sat with a Turkish friend of mine enjoying a traditional Turkish breakfast, some years ago. I explained that I had to go to an area of the city to do some work. " Uff be very careful "he uttered with wide open dark eyes and then finished the sentence in a near whisper " ...organ mafia". Now, as my mind was more on my stomach then what he had said, his words passed over me. However, whilst I was on my way home his words came back to me. Did he say organ mafia? I pondered..what the hell would the underworld of Turkey be getting out of dealing with contraband Bontempi and Yamaha organs. The type that your younger sister used to get for Christmas. Then for the next month drive the house crazy as she only knew the opening keys to Twinkle Twinkle Little star! Maybe they were using it as a torture instrument just as she had done. Alas, I went to the area and not an organ was to be seen anywhere.
Roll on a couple of years, I was conducting an English conversation lesson with a group of mature students. The subject matter of the lesson was " Crime and it's reasons". I threw out to the students " What type of crimes are committed in your city?". . I scribbled their accented and expected replies onto the board with my red marker as crimes were barked out to me from all corners of the classroom . Theft, muggings, prostitution, stealing cars, fraud, burglary,....organ mafia!". I swiftly turned to face the woman who had nonchalantly said the last one "sorry did you say organ mafia"? I questioned. She looked at me as if I was slightly moronic. Then continued and told me a story that set me like stone on the spot.
Somebody she once knew had one day been shopping at a local shopping centre. As she left and returned to her car, she was approached by an affable young man selling perfumes out of a bag. Raising a napkin to her face he asked her to smell this one particular new perfume that had just been released onto the market, which she happily did. She woke up later, in a strange bed, in indescribable pain. On the wall in front of her was a large printed sign on which was written.
" Do not move! You have undergone a major operation and had a kidney removed. A mobile phone is next to you, call someone to help you and the address is......."
The student continued to explain that it had happened a lot in the city and was a serious problem. Listening to her story, I first looked on in a state of bewilderment, and then as her story unfolded, in total amusement and I could hardly contain my smile at her obviously crazy anecdote. My smile was wiped away though, as I perused the room and saw ten heads all nodding in agreement with the woman ! I then enquired as to if these obviously gruesome crimes were so common how I had never seen one report in the media regarding them " Oh Michael teacher, they won't report so as not to scare the tourist away"!. I let it pass and put it down to some of the abundance of other urban myths that I had encountered since living in Turkey.
A few weeks ago, I was in Trabzon in the North of Turkey. Enjoying a beautiful meal of Akçaabat kofte and rice with some friends from the local area. I politely said what a beautiful area it was and seemed so peaceful ".Agh yes Mike but be careful walking back to the hotel avoid the dock area organ mafia are in operation".Having the memory of the student's story in my head I didn't press the matter any further. However, later as I lay in bed. I vowed I to discover the unvarnished truth of the matter.
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Now we need to make a distinction here!
Reports of people alleviating poverty by financially donating their "spare" kidney is a growing market and widely reported. Although Turkey has seen economic growth in the last few years, there is still an abundance of unfortunate people living way below the poverty line. In August 2011, The Turkish Zaman newspaper (see links) reported on the arrest of twenty people, including six doctors. The arrest came about after a Facebook page was set up called " Organ Mafia". Perusing the abundance of viable victims on Facebook, Citizens from the lower social scale and with all probability showing their address to be in the poverty stricken areas of Istanbul were targeted and offered 15,000 Lira (approx 5,500 sterling).to "donate" a kidney . Be that as it may, after a seven month undercover operation into two hundred and three hospitals throughout Turkey, only one was discovered to be involved in accepting the "donated" kidneys.
Again in 2011, Press TV (see links) ,the Iranian "media", some would say propaganda wing, of the Islamic republic of Iran, ran a report on further instances in the illegal trade of kidneys within Turkey. It reported that seventy six illegal operations had been carried out within sixteen months. Although, no report of this can be found in the Turkish media. It also states that according to the Turkish legal code, donations of human organs can only be donated by blood relatives or by a spouse. If true, then it would be shockingly naive of the Turkish medical profession. With one code of law, they are willingly assisting in the death of thousands of dialysis patients. As I said though, the report was conducted by the Iranian press TV, a media outlet not best known for factual information.
The problem seems to move back even earlier, in 2009 the Haberturk Turkish newspaper, reported that in the Western village of Kilacik, that forty people had been arrested in the scandal of selling their organs for trafficking. With one family happily expressing that that four member of their family had "donated".
Nonetheless, however immoral and illegal these practises are they do not quite equate to having a body part stolen, as in the story of my English student earlier. The kidneys reported on above, were surgically removed in a hospital,well one hopes so, and proper medical treatment seems to have been administered. So, where do these stories of "kidney kidnapping" come from?
One possible starting point could be back in 1999. It was then that the the Western region of Turkey was devastated by a 7.6 magnitude earthquake which resulted in the deaths of an estimated 25,000 people. As shocking as the disaster was what was more disturbing were late reports that came out from the ruins of the town of Golcuk, one of the worst hit areas.
Bulent Ecevit, the then Turkish Prime Minister, ordered an immediate investigation into wide scale reports of organs being removed from the recently deceased. The UK newspaper The Guardian, (see link), reported that although details were sketchy, and uses eye witnesses accounts of "unnamed" Doctors, the situation obviously had aroused such an element of suspicion to warrant a governmental enquiry. Unfortunately, although I have not researched intensively, the results of that enquiry are unable to be found. One does hope though, that if there was any truth or evidence to these distressing reports that they would have been acted on and reported on in the press.
Another avenue, where the chronicle of "kidney kidnapping" comes into play is something equally tragic and equally disturbing. In recent years, there has been a marked increase of missing children within Turkey. A report published in 2010 held the number to be an alarming 1700.With every reported story in the media of a missing child, it seems the words " organ mafia" will be wrapped into the article somewhere. Although, no factual evidence exist that the children are abducted for the purpose of removing bodily organs, there is also no evidence that co-exist to say that isn't the case.
In recent times, one of the saddest incidents of child abduction in Turkey happened in the central Anatolian city of kayseri. Three children of one family between the ages of six and eleven went missing while collecting sweets from neighbours to celebrated the end of Ramadam. The search was intensive for weeks, but to no avail. It was as if the children had disappeared into thin air. The usual labelling of " organ mafia" became synonymous with the story. This intensified when a year later a prisoner serving a life sentence, wrote to the Hurriyet newspaper detailing how he was part of a group who had taken the children for their organs and then had thrown their bodies into the Euphrates River. However in 2011 tragically the three bodies of the children were discovered in an area of the city and immediately arrested a man for their abduction and subsequent murder. Their internal organs were intact.
So, was it true, the story of my student and other reports about people having their organs stolen. The more I look into this gruesome crime, the more I doubt it. However, Turkey is no different than any other country. Even with it's heavy leanings towards Islam, it still has every type of misfit and criminal known to mankind, so definitely it is not something to be dismissed completely. Although, if a man ever approaches me and ask me to try his faked version of Calvin Klein, then I will ensure to inform you. Although I could be a couple of pounds lighter!
Westy
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