Susurluk is a small town and a district of Balıkesir Province

Balikesir Province

Balıkesir Province is a province in midwestern Turkey, having coastlines on both the Sea of Marmara and the Aegean. Its adjacent provinces are Çanakkale to the west, İzmir to the southwest, Manisa to the south, Kütahya to the southeast, and Bursa to the east. The provincial capital is Balıkesir City...

 in northwestern Turkey

Turkey

Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...

. It is famous for its production soap and dairy products.
İstanbul

Istanbul

Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...

-İzmir

Izmir

Izmir is a large metropolis in the western extremity of Anatolia. The metropolitan area in the entire Izmir Province had a population of 3.35 million as of 2010, making the city third most populous in Turkey...

 road passes through Susurluk. Susurluk is known for its toasted sandwich with tomato paste and its bubbly ayran

Ayran

Ayran or laban is a cold beverage of yogurt mixed with cold water and sometimes salt; it is popular in many Central Asian, Middle Eastern and South-eastern European countries....

. The population is 23,995 (as of 2010). The mayor is Tahsin Bozoğlu (CHP

Republican People's Party (Turkey)

The Republican People's Party is a centre-left Kemalist political party in Turkey. It is the oldest political party of Turkey and is currently Main Opposition in the Grand National Assembly. The Republican People's Party describes itself as "a modern social-democratic party, which is faithful to...

).

1996 scandal

In 1996 this township was home to a fatal car accident, after which it was found that among the slain and injured were one parliamentary deputy, a known right-wing gang leader, a former beauty queen, and a senior police officer.

The resulting political and social turmoil has come to be known as the Susurluk scandal

Susurluk scandal

The Susurluk scandal was a scandal involving the close relationship between the Turkish government, the armed forces, and organized crime. It took place during the peak of the Turkey–Kurdistan Workers' Party conflict, in the mid-1990s...

, and the accident was described as definite proof of the link between politics, organized crime and the bureaucracy, referred to in Turkish as the derin devlet ("deep state

Deep state

The Deep state is alleged to be a group of influential anti-democratic coalitions within the Turkish political system, composed of high-level elements within the intelligence services , Turkish military, security, judiciary, and mafia. The notion of deep state is similar to that of a "state within...

").

Several people, including three ex-special forces members, were convicted of illegal activities and served prison terms.