Police Special Operation Teams (Turkey)

Polis Özel Harekât Timleri
Active 1983[1]-
Country Turkey
Branch General Directorate of Security
Type Special Forces
Role Domestic Counter-Terrorism and Law Enforcement
Size Varies
Part of Respective County/Municipality-level police departments

Police Special Operation Teams[2] or Special Action Teams[3] or Special Operations Police Teams[4] (Turkish: Polis Özel Harekât Timleri[4]) is the special response unit of the Department (quite like the American SWAT or the German GSG 9). This unit uses automatic and special weapons and rapid deployment tactics for exceptional circumstances, such as bank robberies, kidnappings, hostage rescues, etc.

Police Special Operation Teams was formed in 1983 under the Special Operations Department (Özel Harekât Şube Müdürlüğü, present day: Special Operations Office /Özel Harekat Daire Başkanlığı[4]) and Special Operations Group Authority (Özel Harekât Grup Amirliği) of the General Directorate of Security[3].

The unit mostly specialises in Counter-Terrorism operations against forces. They are able to take operations on many environments including buses and planes.

Gallery

Sources

  1. ^ Tuncay Özkan, Operasyon, Doğan Kitapçılık, 2000, p. 36.
  2. ^ Kutlay Doğan, Almanac Türkiye 2006, Turkish News Agency, Directorate General of Press and Information of the Prime Ministry, ISBN 975-19-3898-8, p. 173.
  3. ^ a b Joost Jongerden, The Settlement Issue in Turkey and the Kurds: An Analysis of Spatial Policies, Modernity and War, Brill, 2007, p. 70.
  4. ^ a b c Ümit Cizre, Democratic Oversight and Reform of the Security Sector in Turkey: 2005/2006 Status Report, LIT Verlag Münster, 2007, p. 168.