Kurdish Hezbollah insurgency
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Main phase: 1995–2002 (7 years)
| Kurdish Hezbollah insurgency | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Kurdish–Turkish conflict | ||||||||
| ||||||||
| Belligerents | ||||||||
|
 Turkey |
 PKK (until 2025) | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | ||||||||
 Hüseyin Velioğlu † Edip Gümüş (POW) Cemal Tutar (POW) İsa Altsoy  |
Abdullah Öcalan (POW) Mihail Bayro † | |||||||
| Units involved | ||||||||
| Military wing | Military wing | |||||||
| Casualties and losses | ||||||||
| 200 killed | Unknown | 500 killed | ||||||
The Kurdish Hezbollah insurgency was a period of assassinations, armed clashes, kidnappings, and other assaults led by the Kurdish Hezbollah between the 1980s and 2000s. The insurgency started when Kurdish Hezbollah was first founded, and was led by Hüseyin Velioğlu until he was killed by Turkish police in 2000, and then by İsa Altsoy from 2001 until he announced the group's disarmament in 2002. Occasional Turkish government raids against Hezbollah have continued and the conflict is still ongoing.
Turkish authorities alleged that the Kurdish Hezbollah was financed by Iran, and its fighters were trained in the Islamic Republic of Iran, with Iran allegedly planning on using Kurdish Hezbollah to overthrow the Turkish government and establish an Iran-style Islamic Republic.[1][2][3] Nevertheless, Kurdish Hezbollah abandoned that goal and began prioritising Kurdish separatism.[4]
The Kurdish Hezbollah viewed Turkey as an oppressive state and an enemy to Islam, and viewed the PKK as a threat. Kurdish Hezbollah claimed to be the sole representative of Kurds in Turkey and viewed the PKK as illegitimate, while the PKK felt the same way towards them. Kurdish Hezbollah members refused to acknowledge the PKK by their name "Partiya Karkerên Kurdistanê", and only used "Partiya Kafirên Kurdistanê".[5] In the Kurdish Hezbollah manifesto, written by Hüseyin Velioğlu, the official goal for the group was Kurdish independence.[6]
Conflict with the PKK
When the Kurdish Hezbollah was founded, it was allied to the PKK, with some of the earliest Kurdish Hezbollah fighters having received their training in PKK camps.[7] Later, differences arose over which group was the representative of the Kurds, although the Kurdish Hezbollah did not want to fight the PKK, and at times they had even repeatedly tried making peace with the PKK, but failed. They had sent a delegation to visit Beqaa Valley to make peace and discuss future cooperation with the PKK, although they were disrupted on 17 May 1991, when the PKK, while unprovoked, killed the parents of a high-ranking Kurdish Hezbollah member in Şırnak. The Kurdish Hezbollah, at the funeral, declared a war against the PKK, and on 3 December 1991, Kurdish Hezbollah member Muhammed Ata killed Mihail Bayro, killed a PKK regional officer and his bodyguards. Ata was later killed in clashes with Turkish forces. The clashes between PKK and Kurdish Hezbollah continued until 1995, with the PKK losing around 500 fighters and Kurdish Hezbollah losing much less at around 200. After 1995, Hezbollah and PKK both stopped targeting each other and shifted their full attention to fighting Turkey, although they had no formal agreement and remained enemies.[8]
Throughout the 1990s, the Kurdish Hezbollah frequently stated that it does not want to fight the PKK, and that the conflict between them only hurts the Kurds while benefitting Turkey and the deep state. Hezbollah also claimed that the PKK was intolerant and was the one who started the conflict.[9]
According to Turkey, the PKK and Hezbollah made a formal and fully effective ceasefire in 1998, and their relations slowly began to develop, paving the way for future cooperation.[10] It was around this time when Hüseyin Velioğlu quickly rose up to be the most wanted man in Turkey after Abdullah Öcalan.[11][12]
Kurdish Hezbollah denied the accusations of working with the Turkish state, and claims that it is PKK propaganda, while the Turkish state also considers Kurdish Hezbollah as a terrorist organization and as a threat, although they tolerated the Kurdish Hezbollah at first, due to them fighting the PKK.[13][14] In an interview, a Kurdish Hezbollah dissident who personally knew Hüseyin Velioğlu, claimed that the Kurdish Hezbollah had no ties with the Turkish state, nor did the Turkish state tolerate Hezbollah. He stated that the Turkish state was too busy fighting the PKK to focus on Hezbollah, which allowed the Hezbollah to grow, although the Turkish state quickly defeated the Hezbollah when Öcalan was arrested and the PKK was weakened.[15] A retired JITEM agent confirmed that Turkey had offered Kurdish Hezbollah help against PKK, although Hüseyin Velioğlu kept refusing it, reaffirming their hatred for Turkey and their strive for peace with the PKK.[16]
The Kurdish Hezbollah claimed that all the testimonies of people who said that the Turkish state founded and used Hezbollah were false, and in turn, Hezbollah provided statements from Kesire Yıldırım (Öcalan's ex-wife), and people involved in the MİT, as well as Ergenekon allegations, who stated that the Turkish state established the PKK and used them. Hezbollah stated that they only provided those statements to show the PKK what it felt like to constantly be falsely accused, and also stated that "the PKK must stop using 'the state founded' or 'the state used Hezbollah' language", and "neither the PKK was founded by the state, nor Hezbollah. Neither the PKK is a collaborator with the state, nor Hezbollah."[17]
The PKK often exaggerated links between Turkey and Hezbollah, and called Hezbollah "Hizbulkontra" to further discredit it. However, illegal Turkish operations included false flag operations for both the PKK and Hezbollah, and the PKK itself had been infiltrated by Turkish agents many times.[18] Hezbollah claimed that the PKK was run by communists at the highest rank of the Turkish deep state.[19]
In a 2012 interview, Cemîl Bayik stated "we do not have intentions to disrespect or start any confrontation, tension, conflict and hatred against the Hezbollah. Although there have been very deep pains and heavy costs in the past, we are still not turning it into a feud. What is important to us is the freedom and interests of our people. This is how we approach."[citation needed] Hezbollah praised Bayik and his statement, although they criticised how the PKK speaks on behalf of the Kurdish people while excluding Hezbollah, and they claimed that whatever the PKK "called an 'enemy' yesterday, turned into a 'friend' today, what it called 'friend' today, it can declare an 'enemy' tomorrow". Hezbollah also stated that "although the messages given by Cemil Bayik are honey which is partially poisoned, our wish and hope is that the honey wins and overpowers the poison effect."[17]
In 2013, Hezbollah supporters and PKK supporters in Dicle University clashed for 3 days after provocative leaflets were dropped. The Free Cause Party chairman Hüseyin Yılmaz accused Turks of instigating between both sides, and stated that "The PKK-Hezbollah conflict is purposely wanted to be created." Yılmaz claimed that the Free Cause Party supported the 2013–2015 PKK–Turkey peace process, and stated that a permanent ceasefire between the PKK and Hezbollah was even more important to them.[20] HDP politician Altan Tan also supported this and said that "the PKK-Hezbollah conflict should be prevented at all costs. There are people that insistently want this." Tan also called for the end of the tension between Free Cause Party supporters and HDP supporters.[21]
In late 2014, PKK sympathisers and Hezbollah sympathisers clashed in Diyarbakır, in which 10 people died. Hezbollah published a statement saying "In the name of Allah, we have repeatedly announced to the public that we do not want a conflict with the PKK, that we are not advocates of this conflict, and that our Muslim people have suffered great harm from such a conflict. However, despite this policy, there was fighting between us, which was as a result of the PKK's provocation which left us no other alternative way. Just like how the PKK is the initiator of this conflict, it is they who abused it and caused it to spread and harm the people of Kurdistan. Because of this, we have no reason to criticise ourselves or apologize. The guilty apologizes, asks for forgiveness. Since it is the PKK that is guilty, they are the ones who must apologize and ask for forgiveness."[22] İsa Altsoy, while speaking on the clashes, referred to the dead Hezbollah supporters as "martyrs", and claimed that "it does not seem possible to effectively and permanently solve the problems unless the PKK accepts Hezbollah as a legitimate power of Kurdistan instead of seeing Hezbollah as an enemy it wants to eliminate".[23]