Hüseyin Velioğlu (born Hüseyin Durmaz; 1952 – 17 January 2000) was the leader of the Kurdish Hezbollah, a militant extremist organization in the early 1990s. Velioğlu led one of the wings of this organization. He was killed in a police operation in the

Beykoz Beykoz (), also known as Beicos and Beikos, is a district in Istanbul, Turkey at the northern end of the Bosphorus on the Anatolian side. The name is believed to be a combination of the words bey and ''kos'', which means "village" in Farsi. Bey ...

district of Istanbul on 17 January 2000.

Life

Velioğlu was born Hüseyin Durmaz in

Batman Province Batman Province ( tr, , ku, Parêzgeha Êlihê) is a province in the Southeast Anatolia Region of Turkey. It was created in May 1990 with the Law No. 3647 taking some parts from the eastern Province of Siirt and some from the southern Province ...

in 1952. He was of Kurdish origin.Turkey and the War on Terror. For Thirty Years We Fought Alone. Publisher: Routledge, p. 61 He changed his last name to Velioğlu in 1978. He studied at the Faculty of Political Sciences of the

University of Ankara Ankara University ( tr, Ankara Üniversitesi) is a public university in Ankara, the capital city of Turkey. It was the first higher education institution founded in Turkey after the formation of the republic in 1923. The university has 40 vocat ...

. In 1980, he moved to

Diyarbakır Diyarbakır (; ; ; ) is the largest Kurdish-majority city in Turkey. It is the administrative center of Diyarbakır Province. Situated around a high plateau by the banks of the Tigris river on which stands the historic Diyarbakır Fortress, ...

, and in 1987, founded Kurdish Hezbollah. When it came to disagreements within the organization, Velioğlu belonged to the leader of the so-called ''Ilim''-wing. This wing was involved in the armed struggle to enforce their goal to overthrow the government and install an Islamic regime. However, this group is unrelated to Lebanese Hezbollah. Velioğlu was killed in a villa during the gun battle between people in the villa and the police.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Velioglu, Huseyin 1952 births 2000 deaths Kurdish activists People from Batman, Turkey People shot dead by law enforcement officers Ankara University Faculty of Political Sciences alumni Leaders of Islamic terror groups