They took to the streets across the country: the Daltonlar gang “celebrated” their leader’s birthday with long-barrelled guns

Members of the Daltonlar gang fired into the air in many parts of the country because it was the birthday of their leader Beratcan Gökdemir, known as “Can Dalton”.

According to videos shared online gang members celebrated Can Dalton’s birthday in many parts of the country and abroad by firing their guns into the air.

In a video shared from Pendik in İstanbul a masked gunman from an armed group said, “We have pledged ourselves to you, may God grant you a long life. Happy birthday İstanbul’s ambassador Can Dalton.” The whole group then fired into the air with the guns in their hands.

Videos were also shared from Esenyurt, Gaziosmanpaşa, Sefaköy, Maltepe, Bağcılar, Mahmutbey and Şirinevler in İstanbul, as well as Mardin, İzmir and abroad.

WHO IS CAN DALTON?

According to the indictment prepared on Daltons, Can Dalton was born in 1997. He is alleged to have carried out intense activity in order to establish control in the Bahçelievler, Küçükçekmece and Esenyurt areas. After carrying out the killing of Gökhan Demirci in İstanbul he fled to Georgia.

It is known that Can Dalton is in prison in Russia. A red notice had been issued for him.

DALTONS

According to the indictment Daltonlar is claimed to have three separate action strategies:

The first is an attempt at extortion targeting wealthy business people and shopkeepers using foreign phone lines and social media applications with phrases such as ‘haraç, street tax, protection money, convict money, penalty’. The second is armed or bomb attacks on rival crime organisations. The third is armed actions carried out as subcontracted hits targeting third parties.

The gang was most recently on the agenda with the assassination attempt on Ülkücü lawyer Serdar Öktem, one of the key figures in the trial concerning the murder of Sinan Ateş.

Note: This article is translated from the original article titled Ülkenin dört bir yanında sokağa çıktılar: Daltonlar çete liderinin doğum gününü uzun namlulu silahlarla "kutladı", published in BirGün newspaper on November 19, 2025.