turf war

turf war

1. An ongoing fight among factions, often criminal ones, attempting to control a particular territory (i.e. their "turf"). The neighborhood has been torn apart by the turf war between the two gangs.
2. By extension, a dispute or hostile environment among persons or factions competing for a particular position, or influence in a particular area. The school newspaper has become the scene of a turf war among several ambitious students who all want to add "editor" to their college applications. The electoral map has become nothing more than a diagram of the turf war between the two parties.
See also: turf, war
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

a ˈturf war

(informal) an argument or a dispute about who owns or controls an area: Street violence has escalated as a result of a turf war between rival neighbourhood gangs. Turf wars are inevitable when two departments are merged.
In informal language, your turf is the place where you live and/or work, especially when you think of it as your own.
See also: turf, war
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary
See also:
  • a turf war
  • torn up
  • (all) torn up
  • bone up
  • bone up on (something)
  • surf and turf
  • torn back
  • war
  • be barking up the wrong tree
  • live to do
References in periodicals archive
The 48-year-old was stabbed 22 times in a frenzied attack in Home Bargains car park in Rhyl as part of a suspected gangland turf war between rival gangs.
Bernard Garner, director general of transport group Nexus, summed it up so well: "If these bus company managers had spent more time on the quality of service they offered passengers, and less time bouncing between turf wars and secret deals, then the region might have a better bus service."
This turf war was part of the reason why the NDC behaved so wildly, going public with the secret meeting."
He had big plans to recapture the lost Congress space in the state but his efforts came to a naught because of the turf war between Sharma and Tytler that began a few months ago.
A source close to the inquiry told the Examiner the shots were aimed at people in another car as part of a drugs "turf war."
It looked as though defeat was likely when Turf War ranged alongside and headed him at the second last, but the winner showed plenty of resolution as he battled back to lead at the last and win going away.
Chris Murphy for the defence said: "The weighted sock was in the van because some while back there had been a turf war on his round in the Wrexhamarea.
Turf War: The Clinton Administration and Northern Ireland.
TOKYO - Japan's two major crime syndicates reconciled with each other over a turf war in Tokyo on Thursday, days after the killing of a senior member in one gang provoked what are believed to have been retaliatory shootings against a rival group's offices, investigative sources said.
The United States Congress on 29 September approved legislation that will repeal the 1979 Wright Amendment and end a Texas turf war between American Airlines and Southwest Airlines.
The public story promoted by the administration was that the resignation was the result of a turf war.
Galloway reminds us that much church conflict is "turf war," arguments over who gets space, supplies, people power, and pastor's attention.
The reporter at the center of it all--captivated by power, obsessed with high-level access, addicted to anonymous sources--acts as a pawn in an intragovernmental turf war, becoming in the process a lightning rod for critics of journalistic comportment.
LYNCH Turf War: The Clinton Administration and Northern Ireland Aldershot: Ashgate, 2004, $84.95.
citizens are urged to be especially aware of safety and security concerns when traveling through or visiting Nuevo Laredo." Like a tsunami is produced by a shift in tectonic plates deep under the sea, the kidnappings reflect a turf war that is taking place between rival drug cartels, which in Mexico have the status of quasi-state organizations.