| Kurdish Hezbollah, (KH) Hizbullahî Kurdî[1] |
|
|---|---|
| Dates of operation | 1983[2] – present |
| Leader | Hüseyin Velioğlu † İsa Altsoy[3] |
| Active region(s) | Cross section of (southeastern Turkey, Iraq, Iran and Syria) |
| Ideology | Based on Political Islam of ethnic Kurds, which mainly opposed to revolutionary Marxism-Leninism ideology represented by PKK. |
| Status | Designated as Terrorist Organization by the Republic of Turkey[4] |
Hizbullah (English: Party of God[5]), often referred to as the Turkish Hezbollah (Turkish Hizbullah) or Kurdish Hezbollah (KH)[3][6][7] (Kurdish: Hizbullahî Kurdî),[8] to avoid confusion with the completely unrelated Lebanese Shi'a group called Hezbollah, is a Kurdish[9][10][11] Sunni Islamist militant organization, active against the Government of Turkey.[12][13][14] Although its members theoretically remain committed to violence, the organization has focused on non-violent activities during the last 10 years.[15]
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The organization of Turkish/Kurdish Hezbollah started in 1979/1980 with meetings in the bookshop Vahdet in Diyarbakır. The shop was owned by Abdulvahap Ekinci. The meetings were attended by Fidan Güngör and Hüseyin Velioğlu. In 1981 Fidan Gündör founded the bookshop Menzil and Hüseyin Velioğlu founded the bookshop İlim in 1982. Until 1987 the groups gathered around these bookshops worked together.[16][17]
Further groups within Kurdish Hezbollah were named as Tevhid, led by Nurettin Şirin and Mehmet Şahin and Yeryüzü, led by Burhan Kavuncu.[18]
In the early 1990s the organization became a direct threat to the already rising Kurdish separatist movement. The Kurdish Islamist group (of Sunni thought) began as an oppositional force against the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), though later they have targeted both the PKK and people who they considered to be with low morals (people who drank alcohol, wore mini-skirts etc.).[19] Some of Hezbollah's major attacks allegedly include bombings of two synagogues in Istanbul on November 17, 2003, killing 23 and wounding over 300.[20]
In 1987, when Hüseyin Velioğlu moved his bookshop to Batman, different opinions on leadership and armed actions resulted in the split of the two wings.[21] The so called İlim-wing, under the leadership of Hüseyin Velioğlu insisted to start the armed struggle immediately. The dispute resulted in bloody fighting among both factions.[22]
Besides the town of Batman Hezbollah was strongest in Silvan district of Diyarbakır province. For a long time the village Yolaç was used as their base.[21]
Former Minister Fikri Sağlar said in an interview with the paper Siyah-Beyaz (Black-White) that the army not only used Hezbollah, but actually founded and sponsored the organization. He maintained that such a decision had been taken in 1985.[23]
However, Turkish security officials stated that the Turkish Hezbollah was financed by and trained in post revolutionary Iran. Believing that Iran was using terror groups to establish Islamic governments throughout the Middle East.[24][25][26]
The weekly "2000'e Doğru" of 16 February 1992 reported that eye witnesses and sympathizers of Hezbollah had informed them that members of the organization were educated in the headquarter of the rapid deployment force (çevik kuvvet) in Diyarbakır. Two days after the article was published its author, Halit Güngen was killed by unidentified murderers.[22] Namik Taranci, the Diyarbakir representative of the weekly journal Gerçek (Reality), was shot dead on November 20, 1992 on his way to work in Diyarbakır. Again, the previous edition of the magazine had examined relations between the state and Hizbullah. Hafiz Akdemir, reporter for Özgür Gündem (Free Agenda), was shot dead in a Diyarbakır street on June 8, 1992, after reporting that a man who had given refuge to assassins fleeing a Hezbollah-style double killing in Silvan was released after only six weeks in custody, without even appearing in court.[22]
The 1993 report of Turkey's Parliamentary Investigation Commission referred to information that Hezbollah had a camp in the Batman region where they received political and military training and assistance from the security forces.[27]
On 17 January 2011 Arif Doğan, a retired colonel in the Turkish army who also claims to be a founder of JİTEM, while testifying in court in the Ergenekon case, declared that he set up Hezbollah as a contra group to force to fight and kill militants of the PKK. The organization was originally to be called Hizbul-Kontr ("Party of the Contras").[28]
Corry Görgü puts the number of militants as high as 20,000[14] a figure presented by the Center for Defense Information as well.[29] Information provided by the Intelligence Resource Program of the Federation of American Scientists based on the 2002 Patterns of Global Terrorism report suggests that the organisation possibly has a few hundred members and several thousand supporters.[9] Ufuk Hiçyılmaz stated that the group had about 1,000 armed members.[30]
After the kidnapping of several businessmen in Istanbul and the subsequent raid of a house in Beykoz quarter a nationwide hunt on Hezbollah supporters followed. During the operation in Beykoz on 17 January 2000 Hüseyin Velioğlu was killed and Edip Gümüş and Cemal Tutar were detained. Edip Gümüş, born 1958 in Batman was alleged to lead the military wing of Hezbollah and Cemal Tutar was said to be a member of the armed wing.[31]
In the time to follow many trials were conducted in Diyarbakır and other places against alleged members of Hezbollah. In several instances defendants raised torture allegations. Such allegations are documented in Urgent Actions (UA) of Amnesty International.[32] In the trial in which Edip Gümüş and Cemal Tutar were indicted the defendant Fahrettin Özdemir said on 10 July 2000 that he had been held in custody for 59 days and had been tortured. In the hearing of 11 September 2000 Cemal Tutar said that he had been held in police custody for 180 days.[31]
The Hezbollah trial was concluded in December 2009. The defendants received varying terms of imprisonment.[33]
Eighteen members of Turkish Hezbollah, suspected of militant activities, were released from jail on 4 January 2011, in accordance with a recent amendment to the Turkish criminal code that set a limit of 10 years on the time detainees can be held without being sentenced in a final verdict.[34]