1. TURKISH HEZBOLLAH

2. AREA OF OPERATION
• Primarily the Diyarbakir region
of southeastern Turkey at first
• Later the group gains strength
and spreads all over Turkey

3. Hezbollah: Party of God
http://robrimes.files.wordpress.com/2010/08/hezbollah-2.jpg?w=450&h=338

4. Huseyin Velioglu
 Born in Batman, Turkey in 1952
 Educated in political science at
the University of Ankara in the 1970‟s
 Plays a major role in the movement
within Turkey to establish an Islamic
state ruled by Islamic law.
 Founds Turkish Hezbollah in 1987
 Leads Turkish Hezbollah in armed
struggle to create an independent Islamic state
 Velioglu leads the group until his death
in January of 2001

5. Known History of the Turkish Hezbollah
 The group first emerges in Turkey in the mid 1980‟s.
 They are considered to be a militant Islamic extremist
group.
 Turkish Hezbollah is mainly comprised of Kurdish Sunni
Islamists.
 No connection to the Lebanese and Shi‟a group that is
also called Hezbollah.
 The leader and founder of Turkish Hezbollah was Huseyin
Velioglu.
 The main goal of Turkish Hezbollah is to create an
independent Islamic state in Turkey.
 The group received military training at the Kurdish
Workers‟ Party (PKK) military camps in the late 1980‟s.
 Later, the group has a fallout with the PKK because
Turkish Hezbollah accused the PKK of killing other

6.  It is widely believed that a branch of the Turkish government
supported Turkish Hezbollah during this period to help
suppress the rise of the PKK in Turkey, although it has never
been officially proven.
 After the fallout between Turkish Hezbollah and the PKK an
armed conflict ensued resulting in the deaths of over 500 PKK
members.
 Members of Turkish Hezbollah met in bookstores in southern
Turkey to discuss ideology, and to recruit new members.
 A split in the ideological views within the group causes it to
split into two factions.
 The two factions that emerge were the Ilimciler (the scientists)
and the Menzilciler (the rangers).
 The Ilimciler faction supported armed struggle and were
willing to do anything necessary to achieve their goals.
 The Menzilciler faction believed in a more intellectual and
nonviolent approach and thought that an armed struggle was
unnecessary.

7. Nonviolent Support for Hezbollah
Hezbollah supporters stage protest in eastern and southeaster
Turkey.

8.  With the split ideologically within Turkish Hezbollah between the
Ilimciler faction and the Menzilciler faction an internal power
struggle ensued.
 The Ilimciler faction takes full control of Turkish Hezbollah after
they kill the leader of the Menzilciler, Fidan Gungor.
 After the Ilimciler take full control of the group they turn their
attentions back to the PKK.
 After continued conflict with the PKK both groups realized that
the conflict between them hindered the completion of both groups
final goal, which was to create an independent Islamic state in
Turkey.
 The two rival groups agree to cooperate with each other in the
early 1990’s.

9.  Eventually Turkish Hezbollah turn their sights on
government and military targets which leads to the
groups eventual downfall.
 The Turkish government crippled Turkish
Hezbollah after they killed their leader Huseyin
Velioglu in Istanbul.
 After the death of Velioglu the group begins to
disintegrate as most members defect to Iran, and
northern Iraq.
 It is now believed that the Turkish Hezbollah
defectors have made connections with other
terrorist groups like Ansar al-Islam and al-Qaeda.

10. “Denial comes in wake of controversy sparked after
Defense Minister Ehud Barak claimed Turkey‟s new top
spy was a „friend of Iran‟.”
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/turkey-
we-did-not-agree-to-aid-iran-s-hezbollah-arms-
shipments-1.307961
Young Hezbollah supporters holding mock ups of Katyusha
rockets in front of a portrait of group leader Sheikh Hassan
Nasrallah. Photo by: AP

11. Underlying Motivations
 Turkish Hezbollah‟s chief motivation is to
create an independent Islamic state in
Turkey
 They wish to rule this theoretical Islamic
state under Islamic religious law
 They want to kill or expel any person or
business that they deem un-Islamic
 They also seek to gain more support for
the cause by eliminating any competing
groups

12. Methods of Operation
 Torture and interrogation
 Videotaped killings
 Bombings
 Arson
 Shootings
 Kidnappings for ransom
 Assaults with various weapons
 Beatings
 Acid attacks on women who don‟t dress in an Islamic
manner

13. Newspaper Headlines of Turkish Hezbollah Attacks
 1984: Hezbollah targeted members of pro-PKK
political parties, newspaper workers, and leading
Kurdish figures.
 1997: An attack on the Ecumenical Patriarchate of
Constantinople was one of the first incidents that
gave Hezbollah widespread attention.
 2000: A Turkish police raid revealed that Hezbollah
members had brutally murdered dozens of people
and had videotaped some of the killings.
 2002: Sixty people died in Hezbollah attacks on two
synagogues, a British bank, and the British
Consulate in Istanbul.
 These are just a few of the groups major operations,

14. Number of Hezbollah Attacks in Turkey
Each Year

15. Funding and External Aid
 Turkish Hezbollah secured much of its funding
through extorting local businesses which they
deemed to be un-Islamic livelihoods.
 They also kidnapped many prominent Kurdish
figures in order to secure ransoms for their release.
 It is widely suspected that the group received
funding and military supplies from Iran.
 It is also widely believed that Turkish Hezbollah
received covert support from the Turkish government
because they saw the group as a means to combat
the Kurdish separatist movement also known as the
PKK.

16. Present Day Situation in Turkey
 Today Turkish Hezbollah is a leaderless group,
and much of its former leadership and members
are either dead or imprisoned, or have fled
Turkey.
 There are still supporters of the group throughout
Turkey.
 There are various rumors that the groups
members that fled to places like Iran and northern
Iraq are still operating as Hezbollah and are trying
to reestablish a Turkish Hezbollah presence in
Turkey.
 The last known Turkish Hezbollah attacks were in
20003.

18. Work Cited
 Kayaoglu, Mustafa. “Terrorism and Strain: The Analysis of the Impact that Individual Strain and
Negative Affect Have on Violent Behavior Among Trained Turkish Hezbollah Members”. August
2008.
 Reference: http://www.turkishweekly.net/article/181/turkish-hizballah-hizbullah-a-case-study-of-
radical-terrorism.html
 Reference:
http://www.novelguide.com/a/discover/exgi_0001_0002_0/exgi_0001_0002_0_00149.html
 Reference:
http://www.cdi.org/program/document.cfm?DocumentID=1928&from_page=../index.cfm
 Reference: