Hezbollah (Turkey)

Hezbollah is a political party based in Turkey. It has no relation with Hezbollah (based in Lebanon), and no relation to Iran (though some Turkish officials have stated that they have received some support from Iran). Some proposals say that the Turkish army has "created" this group to fight Kurdish separatists. Turkey's Hezbollah may want to establish an "Islamic Republic of Kurdistan".

Turkey's Hezbollah emerged in the south east of Kurdistan after the Iranian revolution of 1979. The Kurdish Islamist group (of Sunni thought) began as an oppositional force against the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), though recently they have targeted the Turkish government.

Huseyin Velioglu, the former leader of Turkey's Hezbollah was killed on January 17, 2000, by members of the Turkish police forces (Beykoz, Istanbul).

External link

• Leicht, Justus, "Government crackdown against the Hezbollah in Turkey". February 16, 2000.
• O'Byrne, David, "More skeletons found in Turkey's political closet". MET (Istanbul).
• Levitsky, Olga, "In the Spotlight: Turkish Hezbollah". Terrorism. Center for Defense Information. December 10, 2003.