Organized crime leader Serkan Kurtuluş, fugitive from Argentina, landed in Istanbul at 22:50

A Turkish Airlines aircraft carrying organized crime leader Serkan Kurtuluş landed at Istanbul Airport on August 14, 2026 at 22:50. Kurtuluş was escorted off the plane by security officers and taken to the Istanbul Airport Security Branch Directorate, where he underwent a health examination.

Kurtuluş's extradition took approximately six years and covered a distance of 13,000 kilometers. Wanted in Turkey on a red notice for premeditated murder, murder, establishing an organization for criminal purposes, threats, and armed robbery, Kurtuluş was apprehended in Argentina and transferred to Turkey via Brazil.

In a statement from its social media account, the Interior Ministry announced that the extradition was carried out through joint coordination by the Directorate General of Security's Interpol-Europol Department Head Office, the Central Operations Department Head Office, the Intelligence Directorate, and the Foreign Affairs Ministry and Justice Ministry.

Turkey has no direct extradition agreement with Argentina; such cases are handled through bilateral diplomatic channels and the Interpol mechanism. The extradition process, which began in 2020, took this long primarily because that legal framework required negotiations.