Turkish Hezbollah
| Kurdish Hezbollah, (TH) | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Leader(s) |
Hüseyin Velioğlu † İsa Altsoy |
| Dates of operation | 1983–present |
| Active region(s) | Turkey |
| Ideology |
Sunni islamism, Anti-communism |
| Status | Designated as Terrorist Organization by the Republic of Turkey |
Turkish Hezbollah (TH) (Turkish: Türk Hızbullahı), also known as the Kurdish Hezbollah (Kurdish: Hizbullahî Kurdî) or just Hizbullah in Turkey, is a Sunni Islamist militant organization, active against the Kurdistan Workers' Party (mainly in the period between 1992 and 1995) and the Government of Turkey. Although its members theoretically remain committed to violence, the organization has focused on non-violent activities during the last 10 years.
In the 1970s various Turkish and Kurdish Islamists sought to work through democratic means to develop Islamism in Turkey. It initially remained a primarily Kurdish group that had its roots in the southeast of Turkey and some Turks and Kurds who migrated to the cities in Western Turkey. The group utilized poor economical situations of Kurdish population and had built its social bases in their areas. Many joined the National Turkish Student Association (Milli Türk Talebe Birliği, MTTB), the youth organization of the National Salvation Party. With the closure of these after the 1980 Turkish coup d'état, it appeared clear that the military was too strongly dedicated to secularism for the democratic route to be an option, and a group of Islamists launched the Union Movement (Vahdet Hareketi). The movement organised around two bookshops in Diyarbakır – Fidan Gündör's Menzil and Hüseyin Velioğlu's İlim. Until 1987 the groups gathered around these bookshops worked together. According to the Guido Steinberh, the Turkish government cooperated with the group against the PKK and it's believed that Turkish Hezbollah's influence was not limited to Turkey and it has also left an imprint on some Kurds who had migrated to Germany.
In 1987, when Hüseyin Velioğlu moved his bookshop to Batman, different opinions on leadership and armed actions resulted in the split of the two wings. The so-called İlim-wing, under the leadership of Hüseyin Velioğlu insisted to start the armed struggle immediately. The dispute resulted in bloody fighting between the two factions. Between 1990 and 1993, the İlim group killed many members of the Menzil group, and ultimately emerged victorious. In 1993 the İlim group took the name Hizbullah.
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