The Special Warfare Department (SWD, tr, Özel Harp Dairesi (ÖHD)) was the

special forces Special forces and special operations forces (SOF) are military units trained to conduct special operations. NATO has defined special operations as "military activities conducted by specially designated, organized, selected, trained and equip ...

unit of the

Turkish Army The Turkish Land Forces ( tr, Türk Kara Kuvvetleri), or Turkish Army (Turkish: ), is the main branch of the Turkish Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. The army was formed on November 8, 1920, after the collapse of the ...

. Founded in 1965, it was formed out of the Army's Tactical Mobilisation Group ( tr, Seferberlik Taktik Kurulu, STK). It was disbanded in 1992, with responsibility for special operations then taken over by the new Special Forces Command. Former members include

Korkut Eken Korkut Eken (born 1945) 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 extraju ...

History

The SWD were also funded and trained by the USA. During the

Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...

the SWD cooperated closely with the

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian intelligence agency, foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gat ...

. The SWD encouraged and protected the Turkish

Grey Wolves The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the gray wolf or grey wolf, is a large canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, and gray wolves, as popularly u ...

when they unleashed waves of bomb attacks and shootings that killed thousands of people, including students, lawyers, journalists, public officials, labor organizers,

Kurds ug:كۇردلار Kurds ( ku, کورد ,Kurd, italic=yes, rtl=yes) or Kurdish people are an Iranian ethnic group native to the mountainous region of Kurdistan in Western Asia, which spans southeastern Turkey, northwestern Iran, northern Ir ...

, and others, during the 1970s political violence. The SWD established the TMT in

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is geo ...

in 1958 to counter the

EOKA The Ethniki Organosis Kyprion Agoniston (EOKA; ; el, Εθνική Οργάνωσις Κυπρίων Αγωνιστών, lit=National Organisation of Cypriot Fighters) was a Greek Cypriot Greek Cypriots or Cypriot Greeks ( el, Ελληνο� ...

and to force partition of the island, and supported it logistically and militarily. Arms were transferred from Turkey to support TMT, but when the arms transfer was blocked in international waters, the SWD contracted arms smugglers for the task. The SWD was also involved in the

Turkish invasion of Cyprus The Turkish invasion of Cyprus began on 20 July 1974 and progressed in two phases over the following month. Taking place upon a background of Cypriot intercommunal violence, intercommunal violence between Greek Cypriots, Greek and Turkish ...

in 1974, under the command of

Sabri Yirmibeşoğlu Süleyman Sabri Yirmibeşoğlu (1 September 1928 – 2 January 2016) was a Turkish general. He was Secretary-General of the National Security Council from 1988 to 1990. Career Yirmibeşoğlu was first Chief of Staff, then Chief of the Turkish Arm ...

. In 2010 Yirmibeşoğlu told television news channel

Habertürk TV Habertürk TV is a Turkish nationwide TV channel established in 2001 by Turkish journalist Ufuk Güldemir. It is owned by the Ciner Media Group (since 2007). In 2009 Ciner created the ''Habertürk'' newspaper, drawing on Habertürk TV's brand. ...

that Turkey burned a

mosque A mosque (; from ar, مَسْجِد, masjid, ; literally "place of ritual prostration"), also called masjid, is a place of prayer for Muslims. Mosques are usually covered buildings, but can be any place where prayers ( sujud) are performed, ...

during the

Cypriot intercommunal violence Several distinct periods of Cypriot intercommunal violence involving the two main ethnic communities, Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots, marked mid-20th century Cyprus. These included the Cyprus Emergency of 1955–59 during British rule, the ...

in order to foster civil resistance against Greeks on the disputed island, and that their tactics included

false flag A false flag operation is an act committed with the intent of disguising the actual source of responsibility and pinning blame on another party. The term "false flag" originated in the 16th century as an expression meaning an intentional misr ...

acts, engaging in acts of sabotage made to look as if they were carried out by the enemy.

Bloomberg Bloomberg may refer to: People * Daniel J. Bloomberg (1905–1984), audio engineer * Georgina Bloomberg (born 1983), professional equestrian * Michael Bloomberg (born 1942), American businessman and founder of Bloomberg L.P.; politician and ma ...

, 24 September 2010
Turkey burned mosque during Cyprus conflict, general says
/ref>

References

Special forces of Turkey Counterterrorist organizations False flag operations Turkish invasion of Cyprus 1974 in Cyprus Grey Wolves (organization) Turkish nationalism

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

Riots and civil disorder in Turkey Neo-fascist terrorism 1976 in Turkey 1977 in Turkey 1978 in Turkey 1979 in Turkey 1980 in Turkey Conflicts in 1976 Conflicts in 1977 Conflicts in 1978 Conflicts in 1979 Conflicts in 1980 Anti-communism in Turkey {{mil-unit-stub

History

See also

References