Operation Gladio was the codename for clandestine "stay-behind" operations of armed resistance that were organized by the Western Union (WU), and subsequently by NATO and the CIA, in collaboration with several European intelligence agencies during the Cold War. The operation was designed for a potential Warsaw Pact invasion and conquest of Europe. Although Gladio specifically refers to the Italian branch of the NATO stay-behind organizations, "Operation Gladio" is used as an informal name for all of them. Stay-behind operations were prepared in many NATO member countries, and some neutral countries.
In a stay-behind operation, a country places secret operatives or organizations in its own territory, for use in case an enemy occupies that territory. If this occurs, the operatives would then form the basis of a resistance movement or act as spies from behind enemy lines. Small-scale operations may cover discrete areas, but larger stay-behind operations envisage reacting to the conquest of whole countries.
Counter-Guerrilla is the Turkish branch of Operation Gladio, a clandestine stay-behind anti-communist initiative backed by the United States as an expression of the Truman Doctrine. The founding goal of the operation was to erect a stay-behind guerrilla force to undermine a possible Soviet occupation. The goal was soon expanded to subverting communism in Turkey.
Abdi İpekçi was a Turkish journalist, intellectual and an activist for human rights. He was murdered while editor-in-chief of one of the main Turkish daily newspapers Milliyet which then had a centre-left political stance.
In Turkey, the deep state is an alleged group of influential anti-democratic coalitions inside the Turkish political structure, composed of high-level elements within the intelligence services, the Turkish military, security agencies, the judiciary, and mafia. The political agenda of the deep state network purportedly involves an allegiance to nationalism, corporatism, and state interests. Violence and other means of pressure have historically been employed in a largely covert manner to manipulate political and economic elites, ensuring that specific interests are met within the seemingly democratic framework of the political landscape. Former president Süleyman Demirel says that central to the outlook and behavior of the predominantly military elites who constitute the deep state, is an effort to uphold national interests which have been shaped by an entrenched belief, dating back to the fall of the Ottoman Empire, that the country is always "on the brink".
The Susurluk scandal was a scandal involving the close relationship among the deep state in Turkey, the Grey Wolves and the Turkish mafia. It took place during the peak of the Kurdish–Turkish conflict, in the mid-1990s. The relationship came into existence after the National Security Council (NSC) posited the need for the marshaling of the state's resources to combat the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).
Throughout the Cold War, the U.S. conducted operations focused on combatting socialism in Turkey, executed chiefly through Operation Gladio's Turkish branch, the Counter-Guerrilla. The Syrian civil war has seen a resurgence of CIA activity in Turkey in recent years.
Mehmet Eymür is a retired Turkish intelligence official. In 1995-6 he led the counter-terrorism department of the National Intelligence Organization (MIT), which he joined as a student in 1965 as a "pursuit officer". He was the right-hand man of MIT deputy undersecretary Hiram Abas.
İbrahim Şahin is a Turkish Ultranationalist and co conspirator in the murder of the Armenian Journalist Hrant Dink. He led General Directorate of Security's special forces unit, the Special Operations Department and, following dismissal in 1996 for associating with ultra-nationalist drug trafficker and contract killer Abdullah Çatlı, was tarnished by complicity in the wide-ranging government conspiracy which became known as the Susurluk scandal. The event, which began with the November 1996 car crash which killed Çatlı and other prominent individuals, resulted in Şahin's arrest and subsequent acquittal. His career, however, was effectively ended, and there were additional weapons-related charges in 1999, with a six-year prison term imposed in 2001. In 2008 he suffered a memory-impairing traffic accident and, in 2009, was among 37 highly placed officials named in the government investigation of deep state organization Ergenekon.
Korkut Eken is a former Turkish military officer and National Intelligence Organization (MİT) agent. He became involved in the Susurluk scandal in Turkey after some of his subordinates, notably Ayhan Çarkın, were convicted of extrajudicial killings. In 2001, among the first convictions arising from the scandal, Eken was found guilty of establishing and managing a criminal gang with the aim of "creating panic in society" and sentenced to six years in prison.
Süleyman Sabri Yirmibeşoğlu was a Turkish general. He was Secretary-General of the National Security Council from 1988 to 1990.
The Special Warfare Department was the special forces unit of the Turkish Army. Founded in 1965, it was formed out of the Army's Tactical Mobilisation Group. It was disbanded in 1992, with responsibility for special operations then taken over by the new Special Forces Command.
Semih Sancar was Chief of the Turkish General Staff from 1973 to 1978, a period including the 1974 Turkish invasion of Cyprus. He was previously Commander of the Turkish Land Forces (1972–1973) and General Commander of the Turkish Gendarmerie (1969–1970).
Kemal Yamak was Commander of the Turkish Army (1987–1989). He was previously head of the Special Warfare Department (1971–1974).
The Ziverbey Villa is a villa in Erenköy, Istanbul which was used as a torture center after the 1971 coup d'état. It was used by the Special Warfare Department and others associated with the Counter-Guerrilla. Those detained were mostly associated with the left; the 12 March 1971 coup was alleged to be a counter-coup against a planned 9 March communist coup.
Aydın İlter was a Turkish general. He was General Commander of the Gendarmerie of Turkey and previously served in the Special Warfare Department from 1963 to 1983, including as head of the Department from 1980 to 1983.
Ecevit Kılıç is a Turkish journalist and writer. He was a columnist for Cumhuriyet and later Sabah. He is the author of a number of books on Turkish organised crime and the Turkish deep state.
Daniş Karabelen (1898–1983) was a Turkish Army general who was the founder of Turkey's Tactical Mobilisation Group in 1952, and served as its chief until his retirement in 1960.
The Police Special Operations Department or Police Special Action, abbreviated as PÖH, is the police tactical unit of the General Directorate of Security in Turkey. The force consists of 22,000 personnel, more than a thousand of whom are women. It is also deployed as part of the Turkish occupation of northern Syria.
Turkey