TURKEY

The Turkish Hizballah

Huseyin Veligolu was born in 1952, As Huseyin Durmaz in Batman Province. He was of Turkish Descent and changed his last name to Velioglu in 1978. He studied at the faculty of Political Science at the University of Ankara. He moved to Diyarbakir in 1980, then seven years later founded the Turkish Hezbollah. When there was friction within the organization, they split up and he was the leader of the Ilim-wing. which was was involved in an armed struggle to overthrow the government and install an Islamic regime. Huseyin Velioglu was killed on January 17, 2002, during a gun battle with the police in Beykoz district of Istanbul

In January of 2002, with the rise of police raids on the Turkish Hezbollah, the bodies of more than 70 bodies were discovered in their safe houses. They kidnapped, tortured, and buried alive their victims, and made video recordings of them. The Hezbollah went undetected for almost a decade because the government had similar enemies that them and were using Hezbollah as a weapon.

The Turkish Hezbollah first received military training from the Kurdish Workers' party; also known as the P.K.K. in the late 1980's; but later, the two groups have a falling out because the Hezbollah accused the P.K.K of killing other Muslims

With different ideologies within the Turkish Hezbollah, an internal struggle of power developed. The Ilimciler which was lead by Huseyin Veligolu, too over full control Hezbollah and the Menzilciler after Fidan Gungor was killed. After taking full control of Turkish Hezbollah, they turn their full attention back on the P.K.K. 

After a long conflict with the P.K.K, both groups realized that  they both had the same final goal of creating an independent Islamic state in Turkey, but their feud was getting in the way. so the two rival groups agree to work together in the early 1990's.

More Info:

• Article: The defeat of Turkish Hizballah as a model for counter terrorism startegy

• Article: More bodies found in Hizballah probe

• Article: Turkish Hizballah leader captured in Germany

Biblography 

Aras, B., & Bacik, G. (2002). The mystery of Turkish Hizballah. Middle East Policy, 9(2), 147.

Examines the Hizballah terrorist group in Turkey. Comparison of the Turkish Hizballah with the Lebanese Hizballah; Relationship of the Hizballa with the PKK terrorist group in Turkey; Speculations on the source of the organization's financial and logistical resources.

Basibuyuk, O., Karakus, O., & Akdogan, H. (2007). Fundamentalism as a Universal Mindset-Case Study of Religious Fundamentalism: Turkish Hizbullah. NATO SECURITY THROUGH SCIENCE SERIES E HUMAN AND SOCIETAL DYNAMICS, 22, 42.

This research focuses on understanding the mentality associated with fundamentalism, especially religious fundamentalism. The authors analyze two characteristics of protestant fundamentalism (exclusivity and opposition) to test them in the context of Islamic Fundamentalism (the case of Turkish Hizballah)

Cakir, R. (2007). The reemergence of Hizballah in Turkey. Washington institute for Near East policy.

This book traces the history of the organization. The author goes from general background to more detailed chapters such as various factors leading to the rise and fall of the organization and its connection with Iran.

Cinoglu, H. (2008). An analysis of established terrorist identity in political and military wings of Turkish Hizbullah. ProQuest.

The influence of the role identity expectations of Turkish Hizbullah’s leadership on actual members’ terrorist identities was documented in this dissertation. This study explored the leadership’s identity expectations from members through content analyses of four books written by major figures of Hizbullah.

Ozeren, S., & Van De Voorde, C. (2006). Turkish Hizballah: A case study of radical terrorism. International Journal of Comparative and Applied Criminal Justice, 30(1), 75-93.

Following an overview of the resurgence of radicalism and terrorism in Turkey, the main characteristics of Turkish Hizballah are highlighted and compared to other notorious terrorist groups, KONGRA‐GEL (Kurdistan People's Congress) in Turkey and Hizballah in Lebanon. The ideology, goals, and structure of Turkish Hizballah also are examined. A final analysis focuses on contemporary trends including law enforcement and security operations against Turkish Hizballah, as well as related policy implications.

Nugent, J. T. (2004). The defeat of Turkish Hizballah as a model for counter-terrorism strategy.

This article analyzes the Turkish security forces’ highly successful counter-terrorism operation against the radical Islamist group Turkish Hizballah. Taking advantage of the cease-fire declared by the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), the security forces focused their increased resources on an initial round of raids that netted significant pieces of information about THB and its activities.