The New Turkish Five
Publishing partner
Publishing date
2026
Convertible blank-firing guns, now one of Turkey’s most recent export “success stories,” are quietly triggering a profound shift in global criminal markets. Manufactured in Turkey as blank pistols and later converted into live firearms, five domestic brands — dubbed the New Turkish Five — have already become familiar names within European security bureaucracies. Sold for just a few hundred euros through Telegram groups, these weapons can be modified in simple workshops to fire real ammunition. Converted blank guns were used in the ISIS attack on the Santa Maria Church in Istanbul and in the assassination of Dutch journalist Peter R. de Vries. They are also frequently employed by organized crime groups, including the Barış Boyun network and other emerging criminal gangs in Turkey. Ortak’s investigation reveals how blank-firing pistols manufactured in Turkey are being integrated into transnational organized crime and terror networks.
Impact and Reactions
Opinion: What Does the Rise of Converted Guns Signal?
Cengiz Erdinç - Kısa Dalga
Arms trafficking is an issue deeply embedded in the memory of the Turkish public, closely associated with investigative journalism and difficult to erase even decades later. During the period of escalating political violence in the late 1970s, smugglers and their links to intelligence services were exposed by many journalists — most notably Uğur Mumcu — and became the subject of official reports.
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YouTube: Converted Weapons of New-Generation Gangs
İnan Demirel (YouTube)
Blank-firing pistols used to be purchased directly from shop windows without restriction. Today, buyers are required to obtain paperwork from the police, yet acquiring them remains relatively easy — and the danger continues to grow. These weapons can be easily converted into live firearms, and new-generation gangs such as the Daltons and the Caspers frequently use them. In fact, Turkey has increasingly become a destination market for such converted weapons. Journalist Hazar Dost discusses the findings of an investigative report he worked on for two years.
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YouTube: The Role of Converted Blank Guns in the Barış Boyun–Daltons Feud — Hazar Dost Explains Barış Boyun-Daltonlar kavgasında dönüştürülmüş kurusıkı silahların rolü I Hazar Dost Anlatıyor
Yeni Nesil Çetelerin Dönüşen Silahları
Hilmi Hacaloğlu (YouTube)
Investigative journalist Hazar Dost mapped the landscape of the converted blank-firing gun market that has fueled the rise of new-generation criminal gangs. Dost, who published the investigative series prepared by the Ortak investigative journalism group on Aposto, answered questions from Hilmi Hacaloğlu on the program “Biz Burada Ne Yaşıyoruz.”
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