Kurdish Info 01.01.2010- There are three agencies in the Operation Command of the Turkish General Staff which are engaged with internal security issues. These are: The Department of Psychological Operations, The Department of Internal Security Operations and The Special Forces Command. The most conspicuous of these agencies is the Special Forces Command.
This agency was initially organised under the name of the Special Warfare Department and has a history which reaches back to the formation of NATO.
The Special Warfare Department operated under the Operation Command attached to the Turkish General Staff but was abolished in 1992 and replaced by the Special Forces Command.
The definition of this Command on the website of the Turkish General Staff a while ago traced this structure back to the raiders in the Hun Turks.
It was also indicated on the website that this structure had been in existence since the Teþkilat-ý Mahsusa (Special Organisation) and that it was turned into the Türk Mukavemet Teþkilatý (Turkish Resistance Organisation) during the 1950s.
The jurisdiction of the Seferberlik Tetkik Kurulu (Commission for the Inspection of Mobilisation), previously named the Special Warfare Department was expanded during the tenure of Yaþar Büyükanýt.
The duty of this agency was defined as ‘organising and putting into practise special warfare techniques in the event of an enemy invasion’ but was changed with the change in name to ‘psychological, political and economic organisation against the internal or external threat.’ In this context the number of region directorates was raised from 14 to 22.
The history of the Special Warfare Department is considerably murky. There are virtually no big provocations that this agency did not have an involvement in.
The name of the Special Warfare Department is constantly heard in the run-up to and preparation stage of military coups.
Some of the events that this agency has been involved in are as follows:
- The provocations that led to all the military coups in Turkey
- Thousands of murders, including the killings of Abdi Ipekçi and Kemal Türkler
- 6th – 7th September Massacre
- The Massacres in Maraþ, Çorum and the 1977 May Day Demonstrations
- The Sivas Massacre in 1993
- Thousands of extrajudicial killings in the past 25 years and the most dangerous, murky and bloody provocations against the Kurds.
Disclose Archives so war crimes can be laid bare
The search in The Special Forces Command has determined the agenda of Turkey. The search is being conducted, however the authorisation of the Judge is limited to taking notes and minutes; no copying of documents is being allowed. Judge Kadir Kayan who is conducting the search in the Cosmic Room is only taking notes and keeping minutes of documents regarding the claims of an assassination attempt against AKP MP Bülent Arýnç. It has been reported that the documents which would expose the extrajudicial killings of seventeen thousand people by the Special Forces Command are not being investigated or touched upon.
It has been stated that the search in the Cosmic Room had been on the agenda and was discussed by General Chief of Staff Ilker Baþbuð and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoðan during their meeting last Saturday and a decision was concluded.
That the search began following this meeting brings to mind the question whether these dirty and shadowy organisations will be exposed. It is being voiced in political circles that following the search only certain radicals will be eradicated, just like in the Ergenekon case.
Kürkçü: The Counter-Guerrilla has been turned into the Special Forces Command
As the attack on the will and representatives of the Kurdish people continues, the secret bargaining and negotiations also continue at the summit of the State. The National Security Council meeting was marked by the alleged assassination attempts on Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arýnç.
During the meeting five searches were conducted at the Special Forces Command, also known as the headquarters of the Gladio and Counter-Guerrilla. Journalist Ertuðrul Kürkçü and retired Military Prosecutor Ümit Kardaþ announced that the archives in the USA guided Counter-Guerrilla headquarters needed to be examined.
This process began on December 19th after two soldiers were taken into custody accused of plotting an assassination of Bülent Arýnç, and continues with the search at the Special Forces Command. This agency, also known by its former name as the Special Warfare Department, is also known as the ‘Gladio’ and ‘Counter-Guerrilla’ activities centre.
The legitimacy and sphere of activity of the Gladio has been a point of discussion for a long time. Journalist Ertuðrul Kürkçü was interrogated by the Special Forces Command for his left wing and Socialist activities before the 1980s and says that this organisation came to prominence during the March 12th 1971 military memo and martial rule period.
Kürkçü said, ‘‘the people who interrogated us said that they were counter-guerrillas, that they needn’t account for anything and that they could take anyone at anytime and kill them.’’
During this period the counter-guerrilla was under the guidance of the USA, but it was reformed into the Special Forces Command during Ecevit’s tenure of office, added Kürkçü.
He also pointed out that the Command had been restructured following the 12th September 1980 coup and emphasised that JITEM, who are responsible for war crimes in Kurdistan, was also part of the Special Warfare Department.
Retired Military Prosecutor Ümit Kardaþ pointed out that the Special Forces Command does not have to this day any judicial basis, inspection mechanism or legal regulation. Kardaþ stressed that similar structures had been eliminated in other parts of the world, and called for an Inquiry Commission to be formed in Parliament for the archives to be examined. He also added that the Special Forces Command needed to be abolished.
ESP: The documents holding State secrets must be disclosed
The ESP (the Socialist Platform of the Oppressed) members organised a press statement in front of a banner which read ‘‘massacres which are State secrets must be disclosed.’’ Serpil Arslan, speaking on behalf of the ESP said that the counter-guerrilla had come back onto the agenda following claims of an assassination plot against Bülent Arýnç.
Arslan announced that counter-guerrilla activities were a tradition of the State and that documents which carried the State’s seal of security carried the mark of many massacres.
In particular it called for the killings of Abdi Ipekçi, Musa Anter, Uður Mumcu and Mehmet Sincar and the massacres in Maraþ, Çorum, Sivas and Gazi to be exposed. Arslan asked for the documents to be disclosed and for those responsible to be brought to justice.
Attorney Rasim Öz called for the 1977 May Day massacre to be exposed. Öz objected to the decision by the court ‘that an investigation was not necessary.’ Attorney Öz also added that evidence may be found in the Cosmic Room and requested from the Public Prosecutor to demand the documents.
