Süleyman Sabri Yirmibeşoğlu (1 September 1928 – 2 January 2016) was a Turkish general. He was Secretary-General of the

National Security Council A national security council (NSC) is usually an executive branch governmental body responsible for coordinating policy on national security issues and advising chief executives on matters related to national security. An NSC is often headed by a na ...

from 1988 to 1990.

Career

Yirmibeşoğlu was first Chief of Staff, then Chief of the

Turkish Armed Forces The Turkish Armed Forces (TAF; tr, Türk Silahlı Kuvvetleri, TSK) are the military forces of the Republic of Turkey. Turkish Armed Forces consist of the General Staff, the Land Forces, the Naval Forces and the Air Forces. The current Chi ...

Special Warfare Department The Special Warfare Department (SWD, tr, Özel Harp Dairesi (ÖHD)) was the special forces unit of the Turkish Army. Founded in 1965, it was formed out of the Army's Tactical Mobilisation Group ( tr, Seferberlik Taktik Kurulu, STK). It was disba ...

(''Özel Harp Dairesi'') between 1974 and 1976 and commanded the special forces activities in Northern Cyprus in the eve and initial stages of the Turkish Operations in July and August 1974. In 2010 Yirmibeşoğlu reported to the 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 during the Cyprus conflict in order to foster civil resistance against Greeks on the disputed island, and that their rules of war 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. During the 1970s, General Sabri Yirmibeşoğlu held various posts as; Chief of Intelligence, AFSOUTH-NATO, Naples, Italy, 1976–1978; Commander, 9th Division, 1978–1980, Sarıkamış; Chief of Logistics, Army Command, 1980–1982, Ankara; Deputy Secretary, Ministry of Defense, 1982, Ankara; 4th Corps and Martial Law Commander, 1983, Ankara. As Martial Law Commander, the Mamak Military Detention and Penitentiary was also under his command. Upon his retirement in 1990, by Özal, a renowned Turkish journalist, Yavuz Donat, wrote the following, in his column "Vitrin":

"In the aftermath of September 12th (''the military intervention of September 12th, 1980,'') Sabri Pasha was the Martial Law Commander in Ankara. He used to tell me, 'People detained in Mamak are humans. I have to provide them with decent and humanely living conditions.' He was respectful to both the detainees and their families... He is now retired. Goodbye Sabri Pasha. We will not forget you."

His next post was, Chief of Operations, Turkish General Staff, 1984–1986, Ankara; followed by his promotion and appointment as Commander, 3rd Army, 1986–1988,

Erzincan Erzincan (; ku, Erzîngan), historically Yerznka ( hy, Երզնկա), is the capital of Erzincan Province in Eastern Turkey. Nearby cities include Erzurum, Sivas, Tunceli, Bingöl, Elazığ, Malatya, Gümüşhane, Bayburt, and Giresun. The city is ...

. General Sabri Yirmibeşoğlu's next and final post was General Secretary,

, 1988–1990, Ankara. Then he was forced into early-retirement by

Turgut Özal Halil Turgut Özal (; 13 October 192717 April 1993) was a Turkish politician, who served as the 8th President of Turkey from 1989 to 1993. He previously served as the 26th Prime Minister of Turkey from 1983 to 1989 as the leader of the Mothe ...

. In one of his latest and recently rarer interviews, by columnist Donat, in his column "Vitrin" he is asked, "Pasha, could this unit have acted illegally and made assassination plans against state officials..?" General Sabri Yirmibeşoğlu replies,

"Impossible... These allegations can't be true... This is execution without trial... This unit reports to the Deputy Chief of Staff. He in return reports directly to the Chief of Staff. If this unit has committed any crimes, have we all overlooked them? If we have, let's all be held accountable"

There are some claims that he may be linked to a 1988 assassination attempt against

. General Sabri Yirmibeşoğlu wrote an autobiography.

Istanbul Pogrom

Yirmibeşoğlu proudly reminisced about his involvement in the Istanbul Pogrom, calling it "a magnificent organization".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yirmibesoglu, Sabri 1928 births People from Foça Turkish Army generals 2016 deaths Turkish Military Academy alumni Special Warfare Department personnel Secretaries General of the National Security Council (Turkey) Istanbul pogrom