Largely southeast Turkey (Sunni areas)

Turkish Hezbollah (THB) is a Kurdish Islamic extremist organization comprised primarily of Sunni Muslims. Its goal is to establish a Sunni Muslim theocracy in Turkey by overthrowing the Turkish secular government.

Turkish Hezbollah has a core membership of several hundred. Prior to aggressive moves by Turkish security forces, the group may have had upwards of 5,000 militant supporters.

THB is believed to have received support from Turkey's security forces. During the 1980s, Kurdish nationalists represented the major threat to Turkey's regime. The government saw a way to combat the Kurdistan Worker's Party (PKK) by utilizing PKK's rival, THB. Suspicions of government cooperation with THB gained credence when the governor of the Batman province was cited for secretly providing weapons to the group. In 1999, THB and PKK entered into a truce.

The group is also suspected of receiving support from Iran. THB leader Huseyin Velioglu is known to have met with government officials in Tehran and documents were discovered identifying Velioglu as an Iranian foreign staff officer. Velioglu later disassociated himself from Iran and banned books by Iranian clergy from THB bookstores. Several experts have concluded that THB's Iranian connections have been relatively minor.

Initially, members of Turkish Hezbollah received military training in PKK camps. However, this cooperation disintegrated when THB accused the PKK of seeking to split the Muslim community, killing Muslims, creating alliances with Armenians and supporting communism.

Turkish Hezbollah has typically targeted members of pro-PKK parties, newspapers and Kurdish community leaders. In the mid-1990s, the group extended its operations to include low-level bombings against liquor stores, bordellos and other establishments that the organization considered "anti-Islamic." Moderate Islamists were also targeted, as were people who refused to fund Turkish Hezbollah.

During this period, the group moved into Istanbul and other major cities in Turkey, underscoring its growing strength. THB approved torture and killing as acts of religious piety that were virtually required by Islam. The enemy, according to THB members, includes "infidels" as well as other Muslim groups believed to be on the "wrong path."

Turkish Hezbollah was founded in southeastern Turkey during the early 1980s. Its goal was the establishment of a Sunni Muslim theocracy in the southeast region of Turkey and, if possible, throughout the country. Turkish Hezbollah is unrelated to the Iranian-sponsored Lebanese Hezbollah. THB's origin can be traced to the time of the Iranian Islamic revolution. THB has operated like a cult and conducted business in secret, frequently at mosques. All members are regarded as intelligence agents.

THB initially concentrated its activities against local groups, primarily against the rival Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). In addition to its early actions against PKK, Turkish Hezbollah focused on spreading its Islamic theology in Turkey through bookstores and publishing houses. However, in March 1993, the PKK and THB signed a "cooperation protocol" and agreed to cease attacking each other's members and jointly "struggle against the Turkish state."

Without the PKK as a rival, Turkish Hezbollah began to target secular academics and journalists, feminists and religious Muslims who did not support its goal of establishing an Islamic state.

Turkish Hezbollah's situation greatly changed in the mid-1990s, as PKK's threat to Turkey waned. The government calculated that PKK was a greater security threat than THB. However, after the government's successful clampdown on PKK, it turned its attention to THB and began to arrest its members. Full-scale operations against the group began in 2000, resulting in the deaths of hundreds of militants throughout southeastern Turkey.

In January 2000, Turkish security forces raided a THB hideout and killed the group's leader, Huseyin Velioglu. As a result of the raid, security forces obtained a great deal of information on THB, leading to a largely successful campaign against the organization. Many of THB's members scattered into Iraq and Iran. Remnants are suspected of involvement in the 2003 bombings of synagogues and British targets in Turkey.

Turkey uncovered what it called widespread support of the group in 2006, including a file with 20,000 names of sympathizers on THB computers. The government continued to keep an eye on the group and arrested some members for associating with a terrorist organization in early 2009.

Turkish Hezbollah appears to have shifted its attention away from pursuing a national agenda and has concentrated on increasing its presence and influence in the Kurdish areas of Turkey and Iraq.

March: Turkish security forces carried out operations that yielded 20,000 pages of THB documents, facilitating successful operations against THB later in the year.

July/December: Two hundred or so Kurdish businessmen associated with other Islamic groups were kidnapped by the THB in this period.

December: Police and security forces conducted a Turkish Hezbollah summit to assess intelligence and plan operations against THB.

July: The government released PKK and THB prisoners as part of an amnesty program. Some of the released THB members remained in Turkey while others migrated to Europe.

December: Turkish authorities reported a rise in THB activities. Ankara, however, seemed anxious to avoid a major crackdown that might elicit a sympathetic backlash. THB was said to be providing health care, education and financial aid in the poor southeastern areas of Turkey.

June: A trial of more Turkish Hezbollah members resulted in one acquittal and 10 convictions carrying life sentences for murders that occurred between 1992 and 1994.

December: A Turkish government security report noted that Turkish Hezbollah had shifted its focus and was concentrating on providing social services, such as operating Islamist publishing ventures and working through newly formed non-governmental organizations. The security report cited Insan Haklari ve Mustazaflarla Dayanisma Dernegi (Association for Human Rights and Solidarity with the Oppressed, or Mustaza-Der) as one such group.

December: In its annual review of terrorism activity around the world, the U.S. State Dept. focused on the PKK in Turkey, but noted the continuing presence of Turkish Hezbollah and other terrorist groups.

March 23: The political front for THB, Kurdish Hezbollah, said it would remain neutral in upcoming Turkish elections, despite speculation that the group would support the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP). Kurdish Hezbollah's leader said that the election process was not Islamic enough.

April 21: The government in Ankara indicted 11 Turkish Hezbollah members for actions related to establishing and leading an armed terrorist organization, noting that THB's increasing activity in the social services area enabled the organization to "conceal its real face" and militant capabilities.