THE NAME OF THE WAR AGAINST THE PEOPLE:
THE CONTRA-GUERRILLA

Nothing has changed in the past decades. It has become a regular item in the news reports. No days passes without it. We're talking about the "traffic monster". Normally the news reader says: "We have sad news for you again, the traffic monster demanded another victim." Most of the times, the deceased are unknown to us. But we damn the traffic monster: "God damn it, it demands thousands of victims each year." It hurts, we are saddened because most victims are part of us, part of the people.
The traffic accident on November 3 initially seemed like just another accident. But the news programs opened with it, it was not at the end as usual because the people involved were not just people like that.
The accident occurred in Susurluk. Police chief Huseyin Kocadag died when a brand new Mercedes crashed into a lorry, member of parliament Sedat Bucak was seriously injured. There were two more victims inside the car, one of them was a woman. At first not much attention was paid to these two, because they were not as known as the others. But this all changed within half an hour. It was Abdullah Catli who changed everything and who brought the naked truth into the open. It was the "state" who crashed. The passengers in the car immediately became symbols, the representatives of the present Turkish state, maintaining the system and the ruling powers.
The discussions in the bourgeois media partly revealed the truth about the filth the state is in, showing its decay, revealing that it is the state itself which produces this filth. The discussions about the drug trafficking, murders, disappearances, the contacts between the Mafia, the police, members of parliament and civic fascists revealed the existence of "secret focal points" within the state, in other words: the existence of the contra-guerrilla. The truth, spoken by revolutionaries from several sides, is now apparent for the people. Of course the discussions are just about a part of the truth, and while the discussions go on, the state tries to improve its image again.
The existence of the contra-guerrilla and its activities can no longer be denied. But they try to pretend this organisation and its activities are just about a tiny group within the state. In this way they try to create a base for covering up this issue, before it all escalates. All take part in this game, all bourgeois parties, from the CHP till the DSP, to begin with Mesut Yilmaz, presented as the most radical of the opposition.
At this point it is the task of the revolutionaries, patriots and democrats to not allow that the truth, coming into the open because of Susurluk, is covered up again. We must make the people conscious about this case, leading them into the direction of the struggle.

THE CENTRE OF THE CONTRA-GUERRILLA IS THE USA

The contra-guerrilla organisations in Europe, becoming public in 1990, originate from the CIA and were planned "against a communist government, against the danger of a communist occupation".
The responsibles, who acknowledged the existence of the contra-guerrilla organisations, said the secret organisations were set up to fight behind the enemy lines like a guerrilla force in case of such a threat, organising the people against the enemy. The necessary weapons, ammunition and equipment were kept in depots in several parts of the country. Contra-guerrilla organisations were set up in all NATO-countries and also in European countries which were no members of NATO. All these organisations were joined under the name "Super-NATO" and a central council was established. But why did imperialism, or the USA, think this organisation necessary?
The USA, emerged from the 2. Imperialist War of distribution of 1939-1945 as the strongest state which gained the most. The USA used this opportunity to impose itself as the world police force of all imperialist systems. Its goal was achieving world domination. "The communist danger" was supposed to be the largest obstacle. They wanted to cut of the path for communism, giving it not an inch of land. Therefore the strategy of the "Cold War" was developed. Truman presented the framework of this strategy in a speech before Congress on March 12, 1947, giving the signal for the "Cold War". According to the decided strategies, the "free" states were given economical as well as military support and it was "not allowed that these states walk into the trap of communism". But the USA declared as well that the aid depended on "the enlargement of the human liberty and democratic organisations and the securing of a liberal economy and governments, parties and groups which oppose the plan of the USA will be confronted with counter-measures by the USA." The USA wanted, according to its strategy for achieving world domination, to install collaborating governments in all countries. The economical side of this strategy was to find accomplices which were prepared to co-operate with the USA, controlling the economy of these countries with the support of these collaborators. In this way they wanted to decide the economies of the countries and gaining influence upon the governments.

CIA, Organizer Of The International
Contra-Guerilla

In the military field a joint military organisation, NATO, was formed "against the communist block". But this was not enough for the USA and in the `50's they began to set up contra-guerrilla organisations in all NATO-states, using the CIA as a model. Not even the parliaments in these countries knew anything about the existence of these organisations. These secret contra-guerrilla organisations were not just set up against the external threat of "a communist occupation", they were also supposed to oppress all revolutionary and democratic movements which opposed the interests of the USA. This means the contra-guerrilla was supposed to fight the own people in the countries where it was set up.
"Our security is not only threatened by open attacks. Besides these open attacks there are even more dangerous threats of another nature, not looking to be attacks. These dangers are changes which are wanted in the interior of the countries. Such masked attacks sometimes appear as civil wars, sometimes as a revolutionary movement, and sometimes as a democratic or reform movement. It's our goal to prevent these, and similar, movements." (Report of the Rockefeller Foundation, American War Doctrine, p. 297)
The CIA trained the members of several contra-guerrilla organisation in training camps in the USA and other states. At the International Police Academy, near Washington, contra-guerrilla tactics of interrogation and torture are taught. Seminars are held about the social problems in different countries, about the destructivity and the agressivity of communism, attacks with explosives are with the help of films, near the Mexican border, in the vicinity of Matamaros, technics of silently killing people, like stabbing and strangulation, are taught under supervision of the Green Berets. At the US-base in Panama, officers were trained how to conduct a military coup. Until 1975, 30.000-40.000 people were trained here. In 1963 alone, 82 generals were trained. Around 1.400 officers were trained there annually. The coup leaders of Chile and Argentina followed courses there. The prime-minister of Mexico, Luis Echeveria, was a CIA-agent at the same time. He is mentioned in the CIA-archives under code-name Litempo-14. One of the former government leaders in Costa Rica, Jose Figures, stated he had served the CIA for 30 years, and the same was true for many government leaders in Latin-America.

The Source Of The Necessary Personnel:
Old Nazi's

Investigations have shown the CIA used wanted Nazi's and fascists to set up the contra-guerrilla and to improve its tactics. The expert of psychological warfare Henry Kissinger had close relations with old Nazi's. He told them about his experiences with the US-government and he made them a proposition: "In Germany there is a great hate against the Soviet-Union, especially in Eastern Germany. However, this feeling is expressed nowhere because there is no organisation, no focal point. To steer this feeling, the Germans must be organised. [...] When America does not use these groups, the communists will use them."
The contra-guerrilla organisation, initially set up "against the danger of a communist occupation" in reality served to give the USA control over the countries in question and to hand them over the neo-colonialised countries.

The Contra-Guerrilla
In The European Countries

In 1990 the contra-guerrilla organisation, known as GLADIO, was discovered. After this, all over Europe the existence of contra-guerrilla organisations was revealed.

ITALY:
"To discover one is the only person, except for the members of this organisation, who knows about the existence of Gladio, and thinking about it that they could kill you any moment, is a terrible feeling", said state prosecutor Felice Casson who tracked Gladio.
After a long investigation the Italian Gladio was discovered. A bomb attack near Triest in 1972 in which 3 people were killed was brought to court in 1989 by state prosecutor Felice Casson. The more his investigations progressed, the closer he came to Gladio, but the solving of the case was prevented by the secret service and prime-minister Andreotti. Despite the attempts to cover up the events, the state had top acknowledge the existence of Gladio. The investigations revealed 622 members, 138 secret arms depots and a training camp in Sardinia. An arms depot was discovered in Northern Italy in 1988, containing 127 weapons and explosives. This depot was controlled by the Italian intelligence service SISMI.
Gladio. The state attorney Felice Casson, who was entrusted with investigating it, found that the Gladio was founded in October 1956 by the USA and the Italian secret service SIMSI. Every year the CIA sent 20 to 30 million dollars since the 1950s for anticommunist activities in Italy.
Moreover, there were close contacts between the organisation and President Cossiga, the P2 masonic lodge, and Prime Minister Andreotti, who in 1993 was accused of mafia membership.
In the P2 lodge discovered in 1981, there were 2,500 members, of whom 47 were industrialists, 119 were bankers and representatives of high finance, 43 were generals, 6 were ministers or state secretaries in the government, 18 were leading members of the judiciary, 22 were leading journalists, 38 were parliament deputies and one was the CIA resident in Rome, Howard Stone. After numerous failed coup attempts, the P2 had the task of undermining all important positions in the state and bringing a dictatorship of the fascist type to power.
Known members of P2 include Silvio Berlusconi and Giulio Andreotti, who at the moment is facing trial for mafia membership and leadership of the Gladio.
The actions in which the Gladio was shown to be involved:
* Three fascist putsch attempts: 1964, 1969 and 1973.
* The bomb at the Piazza Fontana in Milan in December 1996, in which 16 were killed and 80 wounded.
* The May 1973 bomb in a police station in Milan, in which three people died.
* The 1980 bomb in the Bologna railway station which cost more than 80 lives. For this attack the known fascist Stefano delle Chiae was sentenced, but nonetheless he organised the international drugs trade unhindered and also had contact with Abdullah Catli.
* The murder of three gendarmes with a car bomb in May 1988.
With the uncovering of the Gladio, the ties between the Italian government, the mafia and the CIA as well as to contra-guerrillas in other countries became known. But despite the major scandal that this caused as well as the de facto removal of the Christian Democrats from power, there have been scarcely any sentences or even charges so far. None of the generals responsible for coup attempts were dismissed from the army. Against Giulio Andreotti there are several trials in progress, but through his seat in the Senate which he holds for life, he possesses permanent immunity and need fear no sentence being passed.
FRANCE:
The French contra-guerrilla organisation was called "Windrose". Defence minister Jean Pierre Chevenement stated the contra-guerrilla was founded in the '50s and that the organisation had been dissolved by president Mitterand. However, an Italian source revealed the French contra-guerrilla organisation had been present at a meeting of representatives from all contra-guerrilla organisations, the so-called "Super-NATO" in Brussels as late as October 1990.
SPAIN:
The socialist government of Felipe Gonzales, coming to power in 1984, at first denied the existence of a contra-guerrilla organisation in Spain. But defence minister Narcis Serra ordered a investigation committee, without participation of the military. It was known that contra-guerrilla organisations existed during the junta of Franco and that Franco participated in talks with fascist politicians and European military leaders. A Italian member of Gladio stated on television that Gladio, together with Spanish contra-guerrilla's, had been trained on the Canary Islands by the American army. Later there had been training centres and contra-guerrilla sections in Spain itself as well, supported by the Spanish military. The official denials were exposed as lies.
The activities of the Spanish contra-guerrilla were even more disclosed after a statement by a policeman in 1994. The policeman stated the bookkeeper Galey, accused of being a member of ETA, had never had any relations with ETA in the first place, and that he had been kidnapped by the Spanish contra-guerrilla organisation GAL. After these revelations, a new investigation was ordered and a trial was opened. The investigation revealed that between 1983 and 1987 at least 23 people, accused of being ETA-members, had been kidnapped and murdered by the GAL.
BELGIUM:
The Belgium contra-guerrilla organisation "Glaive" was established in 1949 in co-operation between England and a subdivision of the Belgium military intelligence service SGR, the SDRAB. The core of this contra-guerrilla organisation was constituted by 8 officers in active duty and 10 pensioned officers.
HOLLAND:
1990 the Dutch prime-minister Ruud Lubbers denied in a written statement to parliament that a contra-guerrilla organisation existed. This was a lie. Subsequent investigations revealed the existence of the secret contra-guerrilla organisation "Operaties en Inlichtingen" (Operations and Intelligence). This organisation receives 1.5 -3 million dollars each year from a secret fund of the defence department. Several secret arms depots were discovered like the one in Velp in 1983.
GREECE:
The Greek contra-guerrilla organisation is called "Sheepskin". At first the Greek government denied the existence of a contra-guerrilla organisation as well. Prime-minister Papandreou did acknowledge the existence of the Greek contra-guerrilla in a statement in October 1990, but he claimed to have ordered its dissolvement after he had come to power in 1984. Greece became NATO-member in 1952. That same year, the Greek "Central Information Service KYB" was established. On March 25, 1955, the Greek chief of staff Davos and the CIA officer Trascott signed the papers for the establishment of the Greek contra-guerrilla organisation which was later known as "Sheepskin". The document was contra-signed by the then prime-minister Papagos. The organisation had 1.500 members, a number which could be increased to 3.500 in case of emergency. There were 800 depots to its disposal, filled with weapons, munition and explosives. On April 21, 1967, KYB officers used a plan dating from 1950, drawn up in case of a communist occupation, to carry out a military coup. Within 20 minutes, the putchists controlled all major objects. When the CIA, who backed the coup, convinced the junta of the possibility of a similar coup to seize power on Cyprus, the way was opened for a military intervention by Turkey on Cyprus. GERMANY:
The chief of the German contra-guerrilla organisation "Antikommunistische Angriffstruppe" (Anti-communist Attack Force), the retired general Reinhard Gehlen, was also chief of the federal intelligence service BND from 1945-1968. The German contra-guerrilla organisation is also known as "Gehlen-Bewegung" (Gehlen Movement), "Stay Behind" and "Sword". The "Bund Deutscher Jugend" (German Youth Federation), founded in 1950, is in the same tradition. A former agent of this organisation, Dieter von Glahn, stated for the press that the BDJ was one of the many organisations which were financed by the CIA.
One of the organisations in Germany, set up by the CIA, was "Peters Organisation", later known as "Technischer Dienst TD" (Technical Service). The best agents of these organisations had the disposal of high-tech radio equipment "Harbuna", manufactured by AEG/TST, especially for BND-agents. Germany supplies the contra-guerrilla organisations in other countries with "training and requisites". Near Munich, the US 20. Special Forces had its headquarters, and the "School for Counter-Insurgency" was situated in Ober-Ammergau. Contra-guerrilla members from many countries, not just from NATO-countries, were trained in camps in Bayern/Bad Toelz and Schoengau.
SWITZERLAND:
The contra-guerrilla organisation in Switzerland was set up in 1950 as "Geheime Abwehr Organisation" (Secret Resistence Organisation). Investigations showed the organisation kept files about 1/6 of all Swiss, that is more than 900.000 Swiss. The GAO belonged to the Intelligence and Counter-intelligence Service (UNA), directed by the chiefs of staff. Although not a NATO-country, the chiefs of the Swiss contra-guerrilla participated in the meetings of "Super-NATO" in Belgium. An investigation by a parliamentary committee revealed the existence of the organisation "Project-26" (P-26), as well as several arms and explosives depots in Switzerland. The members of P-26 were trained in a country which name was not disclosed, and they possessed radio equipment which was used by secret NATO organisations and which the Swiss army did not dispose of. This equipment was supplied by the German BND. Furthermore, a special service ("Spez. D") was set up to facilitate the exchange of information between Switzerland and NATO. This organisation had links with the German organisation "Schwarze Hand" (Black Hand). AUSTRIA:
In October 1950, the Austrian minister of the Interior, Franz Olah, ordered an attack against a workers' strike in which communist workers participated as well. After the strike was crushed, the scabs were brought together in a organisation, the "OeWSGV" (Austrian Defence Sports and Friendship Association). Franz Olah described the organisation as a "special project" which was to be activated in case a communist government was to be formed. The OeWSGV was equipped with a central headquarters, special radio equipment, as well as arms and explosives depots in several places.

SCANDINAVIAN COUNTRIES:
The contra-guerrilla organisations in the Scandinavian countries like Denmark, Norway and the non-NATO countries Sweden and Finland were set up between 1951 and 1953 by William Colby who later became director of the CIA.
William Colby wrote in his memoirs that he received support of governments in Norway and Denmark to set up the contra-guerrilla. In Sweden and Finland the contra-guerrilla was organised in an illegal way with the help of right-wing parties. In 1978, a large arms depot was discovered in Norway. The government stated this depot was to be used in case of war. The roots of the contra-guerrilla in Sweden can be traced back to the "Sveaborg Brothers in Arms". The people who were contacted, all belonged to independent contra-guerrilla groups.

Was The Contra-Guerrilla In Europa Dissolved?

The scandalous developments, suddenly becoming visible, and the existence of secret organisations for some 40 years, revealed at roughly the same time in all European countries and NATO-countries, except Turkey, as well as the fact that this happened immediately after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, show this has not been a natural development. The European countries did no longer need these organisations, set up against the "communist threat" after the Soviet Union split up. There is no longer a threat that Europe will be occupied by the Soviet Union. In their view the danger of a revolution does no exist, at least not for the near future. And even if such a threat would exist, without support by the Soviet Union, such a threat could easily be suppressed. The organisations, costing billions of dollars each year, became too much of a burden for the European imperialists, and they wanted to get rid of this burden. By keeping the contra-guerrilla organisations a secret, they proved that these organisations carried out illegal actions, massacres and provocations. Were similar organisations set up after these were dissolved? That is not known. But it would be easy to imagine how these organisations would look like and what kind of activities they would carry out.

The Existence Of The Contra-Guerrilla In Turkey Has Always Been Denied
The contra-guerrilla first let itself be known during the May 12-Junta 1971 during the tortures in the Ziverbey villa. The torturers sometimes openly admitted to the tortured to belong to the contra-guerrilla. The discussions about whether or not such an organisation existed, started in those days, some 25 years ago. The discussions kept on. Something else did never end: the denials of the existence of the contra-guerrilla by all subsequent governments. It would probably be natural for the military and the police in a country to deny the existence of a contra-guerrilla, but it is not for a delegate, chosen into parliament to represent the people.
Some remain silent because they never opposed it, some because they co-operated with them, or they supported them, and some remained silent when the people were murdered under torture, just not to harm the state. They kept silent, and they participated in all the crimes against the people.
The revelation of the existence of the contra-guerrilla organisations and similar organisations in the European countries caused a closer look at the contra-guerrilla in Turkey as well. The statement by the prime-minister of Luxemburg, Jacques Santes on November 13, 1990: "The secret organisation in Turkey is called contra-guerrilla", forced the then officials to react.
Demirel, in those days in the opposition, stated: "There is no room for such kind of organisations in a state of law. It has become a task of parliament to combat these secret organisations which constitute a threat to the people. The Turkish state can not step to the Turkish people with a murderous image. Where are the state prosecutors?"
The SODEP (Social-democratic Party) chairman, Erdal Inonu, in the opposition benches as well: "We expect a solution in this case about the contra-guerrilla, but we're not in the government now".
Three years later. Demirel and Inonu are now part of the same government coalition, and they speak about the contra-guerrilla quite differently.
Demirel: "Discussions about the contra-guerrilla just whips up things. An ideology which tries to harm the state, which hides behind these events, must be finished."
Inonu: "The discussions about the contra-guerrilla endanger our government coalition."

Parliament Protocol Of March 2nd 1993 On The Subject Of The Contra-Guerrilla

Protocol of parliament session on March 2, 1993 about the contra-guerrilla: "The government opposes to make these false accusations, intended to harm our state, a theme of investigation for our high parliament." (Nevzat Ayaz, Defence Minister, DYP)
"The number of murders by unknown perpetrators, risen to 600 in one year, constitutes a great shame for the coalition government, for all of us and for democracy. In case the request for an investigation is rejected today, this would mean a wound for our democratic parliamentary regime. If our high parliament misses this opportunity, it will have to account for history." (Algan Hacaloglu, CHP)
"Mister Demirel has said here: We wanted an investigation of the contra-guerrilla, the sent a message not to stir up things. Apparently a message was sent today as well to mister Demirel and mister Inonu to sent this message through to the present opposition so they leave this matter as it is, to put their own fractions under pressure." (Hasan Mezarci, RP)
"There are certain reasons why this organisation has become the target of these attacks. The reasons: to harm the security forces, corrupt its morale, create internal problems, making them biased, making society despair about these forces, getting society over to their side. To say it 2 words: shaking the trust in the state." (Baki Tug, DYP)
"In a time when the great masses do not have sufficient information, some people, circles and even institutions wage campaigns which from time to time even become actions. The goal is obvious: confusing the thoughts of the people, harming the Turkish state and some of its institutions, destroying them." (M. Bahri Kibar, ANAP)

Founding Of The Contra-Guerrilla In Turkey

At the beginning of the 1990s, the existence of contra-guerrilla organisations was revealed in the NATO countries and in countries like Finland and Sweden, which did not themselves belong to NATO. However, although Turkey is a NATO member, the existence of a contra-guerrilla organisation in Turkey has always been denied. Perhaps the European imperialist countries no longer have a need for contra-guerrilla organisations, but the Turkish oligarchy will have a need for it for a long time to come. It has never been possible here to put an end to the revolutionary and the national liberation struggle, on the contrary: the danger of a revolution has only become greater for the oligarchy.
Neither the oligarchy nor imperialism could live in peace with that. Therefore the fight against the people was stepped up, especially at the beginning of the 1990s, and more and more use of the contra-guerrillas was made. With disappearances, executions, massacres, coercing people to betray others,the burning down of villages, provocations, forced emigration and denunciations of revolutionaries and patriots, psychological warfare was increased, the activities of the contra-guerrillas were institutionalised and became state policy.
New organisations such as the Special Units and the secret service of the military, JITEM, were set up, contra-guerrilla traitors were employed and the "village guards" were legalised. Using such methods means waging war against the people. But these methods of war against the people are nothing new. They have been used before by the imperialists, especially by the USA and its contra-guerrilla centre, the CIA, in their war against the peoples all over the world.
When the USA began to enlarge and secure its capitalist world order after 1945, contra-guerrilla organisations were set up in all the countries in the world it could reach. The aim was not to protect these countries from the danger of "communist occupation", they actually wanted to prevent national liberation struggles and revolutions in these countries, to bring collaborator governments in power and keep them there with the help of the contra-guerrilla organisations. In this way these countries were to be made dependent upon the USA, and transformed into a constant resource for exploitation. Therefore contra-guerrilla organisations were not only set up in the NATO countries, they were set up in all countries which collaborated with the USA.
The military experts Peter Paret and John W. Shy described the goal of the USA in this way: "The goal is to strengthen the authority of the governments which are supported by the USA, securing their regimes." (P. Paret and J.W. Shy, Guerrillas in the 1960s, p. 42)
"The USA can and must deploy the contra-guerillas in crushing leftist or non-leftist governments which are not acting according to the wishes of the USA. [...] It's our goal to instal friendly governments instead of unfriendly governments which are not acting in accordance with our interests." (ib. p.302)
To achieve these goals, the USA planned coups in many countries, carried them out themselves or supported those who did. The military coup of 1973 in Chile, for example, was planned by the financial director of the American monopoly ITT. The socialist president of Chile, Allende, who won elections democratically, was brought down and his place was taken by a military junta. In 1953, the CIA was involved in bringing down the government of Prime Minister Mossadeq in Iran. Feyzullah Zahidi, brought into power in his place by the CIA, had been a supporter of the Nazis. In Greece, the governments were controlled by contra-guerrillas. Vietnam, Korea and other countries where the USA waged open war, and Latin America, known as the "backyard of the USA", served as a laboratory for the contra-guerrilla. The contra-guerrilla in Turkey, strengthened in the 1980s and actually forming the government, have been waging an intensified war against the people since the 1990s, profiting from the experiences the CIA had made in previous years in these countries.

The First Contra-Guerrilla Centre: The "Mobilisation Workgroup"

In 1947, the government of the CHP (Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi - Republican People's Party) changed the system from a one-party system into a multi-party system, because of relations with the imperialist countries, especially the USA. This phase has been very important for Turkey. The relations with the USA rapidly developed under the government of the DP (Democratic Party), led by Prime Minister Adnan Menderes. In the general treaty with the USA and the European countries, Turkey asked for economic aid in particular.
Under the Marshall Plan, influenced by the Truman Doctrine, this aid was generously granted to bring the USA closer to its aim of world domination. Although there was no written request by the USA or a corresponding treaty, Turkey - on its own initiative - sent soldiers to Korea for the benefit of the imperialists in order to show itself a reliable friend of the USA. On April 4, 1952, Turkey became a member of NATO. Under the "Treaty for Mutual Defence", Turkey signed many treaties which made it dependent of the imperialists. As in all other NATO countries, a contra-guerrilla organisation was set up in Turkey in 1952 against the "threat of a communist occupation", and this was called "Mobilisation Workgroup". And like in all founding member countries, the public and parliament were not informed about the existence of the contra-guerrillas. Only the few who took part in setting it up, knew about it. The contra-guerrilla, under the command of the deputy chief of the general staff, was housed in the same building as the US aid-organisation JUSMAAT, in Ankara/Bahcelievler. In 1965, the name was changed to "Special Warfare Department", and in 1990 it was renamed "Special Forces Command". Until 1974, the CIA took care of all the costs and the training of the contra-guerrillas.

The Contra-Guerrilla And The CIA

Under the "Being of Help" programme, and through the mediation of the CIA, prospective contra-guerrillas were trained in schools or camps in the other imperialist countries or the colonies. Among the trainees were officers, policemen as well as civilians. They are trained by the USA, but not because the USA wants to be of help. In the training camps and schools, the CIA contacts them and tries to enlist them as CIA agents. It establishes an organisation of its own in all the contra-guerrilla countries. And thus it governs all the countries it wants to keep under its control through the contra-guerrillas. It works its way into the most remote corners of the state, getting information about politicians, about the latest developments, much quicker than those who are wielding official power. It tries to get the policemen and military officers - who have become its agents or who can easily be indoctrinated with its policy and even the bureaucrats and politicians - into key positions in state bodies. During the putsch and the military junta, these officers - who had become CIA agents - played a major role. In 1967, Secretary of Defence Robert McNamara explained US aims: "To state it even more openly, with the aid for Latin America we pursue the aim, if necessary, to support the training of the military or paramilitaries to restore much-needed internal peace, together with the police and the other security forces.
"The actual reason for our military aid for these countries, where the military is weakly developed, is to model them according to the ideology of the USA,to use them, if necessary, in the future in governing these countries."

Military Coup 1960

The war of the contra-guerrillas against the people also increased opposition. Forty-four years have passed since the contra-guerrillas were set up in Turkey. But in the last five years considerable differences have appeared, both in relation to the power it achieved in state bodies, as well as concerning the methods which are being used in the war against the people. Certainly this is no coincidence. When the oligarchy - through the contra-guerrillas - uses the most brutal and cruel methods in the war it has opened against the people, then this stems from its helplessness against the revolutionaries and the national struggle. In the past they saw all its tools and methods weren't sufficient to stop the struggle, and now it's forced to develop new methods and tools to continue the war.
Between 1950-1960 the US "policy of Cold War" was applied in a radical manner in Turkey by the Democratic Party, led by Menderes. "Communism and the Soviet Union" were supposed to be the biggest enemies. In this period, in 1955, the contra-guerrillas carried out its first operation: a bomb attack against the Ataturk House, a museum, in Thessalonika, Greece. The government and the pro-government press used this event to provoke the people. Fascists, organised by the provocations of the contra-guerrillas, carried out attacks against houses, shops and workplaces of Armenians and Greeks in Istanbul. These places were burned and destroyed.
But the bankruptcy of its economic policy caused an economic crisis and poverty in the country and the Democratic Party suffered setbacks. The contra-guerrillas increased their attacks against the opposition even more, eventually leading to growth in the democratic opposition and the coup of May 27, 1960. The USA knew about this coup beforehand, but it became clear they could not control the organising officers in the way they wanted. It's true, the fascist Alparslan Turkes, trained in the USA, initially took part in the newly founded committee of national unity, but he and his friends were quickly removed and sent into exile. Later he became the leader of the civilian fascist movement the MHP (the Nationalist Action Party).
In the mid-1960s the mass actions started. In 1967, DISK (Revolutionary Trade Union Confederation) was founded and the organisation of the workers rapidly developed. From 1968 onward, the discussions among the left increased and the revisionist line of the TKP (Turkish Communist Party) and the TIP (Turkish Labour Party) was considered obsolete. Large parts of the youth disassociated themselves from this line. First the FKF (Debating Club Federation, theoratical led by Mahir Cayan) was founded, and later the Devrimci Genclik (Revolutionary Youth). The contra-guerrillas were more and more used against the growing and radicalising opposition which began to strive for revolution. A civilian organisation of the contra-guerrillas, the fascist MHP movement, began to organise in this period. From 1967 the civilian fascists were trained in the commando camps of the contra-guerrillas. Alparslan Turkes is the leader of this movement. Nihat Yazar, former chairman of the MHP disciplinary committee, who later left the party, reported in a statement to the paper Politika about the participation of Alparslan Turkes in the coup of 1960: "The contacts between Alparslan Turkes, who was involved in the coup, and the CIA, began in those days."
Against the growing people's opposition, the state began to make use of the civil fascists, as well as the police and the military.

Military Coup 1971

Since the 1960s, provocative actions have been part of the methods of the contra-guerrilla to increase the impact of its psychological warfare. The March 12 coup and many sabotage actions were carried out. And attempts were made to make it look as if the revolutionaries were the perpetrators. A large-scale smear campaign was launched against the revolutionaries. Some of these actions are listed below:
* A red flag was hung from the Galata Tower in Istanbul.
*The Ataturk Cultural Palace in Taksim/Istanbul was burned.
* A ferry was sunk in Eminonu/Istanbul.
* A bomb attack against the Sirkeci Train Station in Istanbul.
* A bomb attack against the Ataturk Airport in Yasilkoy/Istanbul.
* The Marmara ferry was set on fire.
With such provocative actions,the contra-guerrillas used terror against the revolutionaries, democrats and intellectuals. Hundreds of people were arrested and tortured. But as always in these types of actions, the perpetrators were never found.

The Beginning Of The Mass Execution

With the coup of March 12, 1971, the contra-guerrillas became even stronger. Unlike the coup on May 27, 1960, the contra-guerrillas played a major role. During the junta, the name of the contra-guerrillas could most be heard in Istanbul/Erenkoy, in the torture centre in the Ziverbey House. In this period the contra-guerrilla chief of the general staff was Memduh Tagmac.
Later the organisations of the contra-guerrillas, the fascist MHP, and the support bases of the fascists gained in strength. From 1974, when the revolutionary struggle began to increase, the attacks by civilian fascist gangs began anew. The fascist gangs wanted to control the schools, neighbourhoods and villages in the entire country. The oligarchy wanted to strangle the growing opposition by imposing a fascist occupation. This caused the masses, forced into the class struggle, to organise the anti-fascist struggle. Although several opportunistic and revisionist organisations behaved passively towards the fascist attacks, resistance was mounted in the schools and the neighbourhoods. Large sacrifices were made and thousands of revolutionaries and patriots fell. But the fascist plan was frustrated. The attempts by the fascists to seize places by force were largely disrupted in all parts of the country.
When the growing opposition could no longer be halted with the help of state-supported fascist attacks, the oligarchy had no other option left than to carry out a military coup. Between 1975-1980, most contra-actions were carried out by civilian fascists. In this period, revolutionaries and patriots were mostly kidnapped, tortured and murdered by organisations like ETKO (Salvation Army for the Imprisoned Turks, led by MHP-fascists) and the TIT (Turkish Revenge Brigade). The murdered people were put in sacks and dumped The contra-guerrillas carried out the most shocking and conspicuous mass executions in this period:
* May Day, 1977: people on the streets are shot at by snipers in buildings and crushed by tanks. The death of 36 people was a starting signal for a veritable wave of mass executions.
* March 16, 1978: In front of the University of Istanbul democratic and revolutionary students were shot when they left the university building. Later seven students are murdered in a bomb attack.
* October 8, 1978: seven students who were members of the TIP (Turkish Labour Party), were murdered in their houses in Ankara/Bahcelievler by fascists. Abdullah Catli was one of those responsible for this massacre.
* October 1978: Four students were taken from a bus by fascists in Istanbul and shot.
* December 21, 1978: Before the massacre in Kahramanmaras, two teachers, members of the TOB-DER (Teachers' Union) were murdered. The next day, December 22, fascists attacked the people who attended the funeral ceremony for the murdered teachers. From there, the fascists marched to the shopping centre where they destroyed shops owned by Alevis, as well as the buildings of the CHP. During a confrontation, three more people are murdered. On December 23, ostensibly to prevent a confrontation between police and the people, the policemen were called off the streets. This give the fascists the opportunity to gather, and they were given a free hand. Soldiers, summoned by the governor on December 21, never arrived. On December 24, the fascists attacked a neighbourhood predominantly inhabited by Alevis. They murdered children, elderly people, women ­ even pregnant women ­ and the sick. The massacre continued until the evening of December 25. Two hundred and ten houses and 70 workshops are destroyed and burned. As far as can be ascertained, 111 people were murdered. * May 16, 1979: Fascists stormed a cafe in Ankara/Etlik Piyangotepe which was frequented by leftists. The people were forced to lie down and were then shot. Seven people were murdered.
* October 27, 1979: A cafe in Devrim Street in Istanbul/Bayrampasa which was frequented by leftists was stormed by fascists.
* On October 28,1979: Another cafe, this time in Kayseri, was riddledwith bullets by fascists: five people died.
* On December 16, 1979: the Barbados Coffee House in Istanbul/Besiktas, often frequented by revolutionary students, was bombed. Five students died in the attack. (These are only a few examples, the list of massacres is almost endless)

1980 Military Coup

In the years before 1980 the fascist terror increased. Civil fascists took over important positions in the government and judiciary. Increasingly the police recruited fascists. However, the people also organised themselves against massacres and executions. In 1978 the liberation movement Devrimci Sol (Revolutionary Left) was formed, which continued the legacy of the THKP-C (People's Liberation Party-Front of Turkey). The leaders of the THKP-C fell in Kizildere in 1972, but their line of popular armed struggle was continued and developed by Devrimci Sol. On March 30 1994, the anniversary of the "Kizildere manifesto", Devrimci Sol concluded the renewed development of the party. On this day, the DHKP-C, the Revolutionary People's Liberation Party-Front, was founded.
The Turkish state did not succeed in silencing the ever louder calls of the people for democracy and justice. To preserve the system, the military staged a coup with the help of the imperialists on September 12 1980.
Hundreds of people were murdered. Tens of thousands were arrested and tortured. All democratic organisations, newspapers, trade unions were banned, their members arrested, tortured, murdered or sentenced to long prison sentences. With the September 1980 coup, the policy of disappearances, executions in the street and systematic torture which constitute today's Turkey made its first appearance.
Some members of the fascist Grey Wolves, for example their leader Turkes, were also arrested and sentenced. However, this was a matter of keeping up a pretence, and even those Grey Wolves who had been sentenced to death were released after a few years.
After the coup a number of institutions were set up which exist to this day. Their aim is to safeguard the power of the military, no matter what kind of civilian government is set up as a facade.
MGK: National Security Council. The top brass of the armed forces, the president and the most prominent members of the monopoly bourgeoisie sit on it.
YÖK: on November 6 1981, at the command of the generals, this higher education council was set up. YÖK is a committee of 25 which directs and guides the administration of higher education establishments. It looks after study syllabuses, exams and disciplinary procedures. For years there have been protests against YÖK from students, especially the boycott which takes place on November 6 every year.
In the education system, hundreds of textbooks have been rewritten to conform to fascist ideology.
Various laws, for example the ban on the Kurdish language, are used to suppress the expression of cultural identity.
Emergency Areas. Most of Kurdistan is a state of emergency area in which the "law" has ceased to be applied at all. The declaration of the state of emergency is regularly extended every six months.
The trade unions, which since 1986 can organise outside of Türk-Is, the state trade union federation, are subject to strict legislation. For example, a legal notary must confirm the membership figures claimed by a union. If a union has 50 percent or more of the labour force in a workplace, enabling it to represent workers legally, this still has to be confirmed by the Labour Ministry, a process that can take months and which gives the employer plenty of time to sack union members. Persons convicted of a "political offence" are banned from holding any position in the unions.
DGM: State Security Court. All "crimes of terrorism" come under its jurisdiction. These include arrests at demonstrations as well cases involving journalists, trade unionists, artists and members of the armed forces. There are three judges in the DGM, of whom at least one must be a member of the armed forces (normally two of them are). The lawyers too are frequently part of the military structure.
In 1981, the military set up a puppet government headed by the Motherland Party (ANAP). In 1983, the first "free" elections took place. But this "elected" government, like the successors, was a puppet regime lacking real power. The National Security Council determines which parties can go on the ballot.
The contra-guerrillas have maintained their supremacy through the institutions that were set up after the coup and their rights of intervention, and through the use of executive bodies which recruit heavily among the fascists. The renewed resistance, which has grown despite all crackdowns, has been met with increased repression. Human rights violations increase from year to year. The wave of disappearances, executions, mass arrests and torture which was first experienced in 1980 have become part of everyday life in Turkey.
In October 1996 (the month before Susurluk) Oya Gökbayrak, the spokeswoman of the Platform for Rights and Freedoms, described the differences as compared with 1980 thus: "The one important difference is the dirty war being waged against the Kurdish people. This war has of course been going on for decades, and has now reached the highest point with the burning of villages, massacres and mass expulsions of people from their homes.
"The other important difference is that in 1980 civil fascists described as Œpersons unknown' were the ones who carried out massacres. Now crimes like disappearances, extra-judicial executions and so on are carried out by the state security forces as part of their duties, ordered and protected by the highest levels of the state."

THE INSTITUTIONS OF THE CONTRA-GUERRILLA

The Command Of The "Special Armed Forces"

When the contra-guerrilla was organised in Turkey in 1952 as the "Institute for War Research" it could possibly be described as a "dark force within the state" or "a state within the state" like similar institutions in Europe. Nowadays such a description is no longer valid, considering the institutionalisation of fascism. The first contra-guerrilla organisation developed imultaneous with the increasing class struggle, its organisation was enlarged and it developed into a mechanism which nowadays controls the entire state.
The "Institute for War Research" can be described as the core of the present "Special Forces", used in the war against the people. The "Institute" was set up in 1952 without any legal basis as a secret contra-guerrilla centre, under the command of the general staff. Its existence wasn't even publicly known till 1974. The existence was not documented in any written document or archive. After it's existence was revealed, it was claimed the organisation was only to be used against occupying forces of the enemy in case of a war. The organisation had allegedly nothing to do with a contra-guerrilla organisation. But whatever they claim, it's obvious the contra-guerrilla is always used in the war against the people. After it's existence became known, the organisation was legitimised. It's superior commanders and its bases are known. But this is just the public side of its face. The inner structure of the organisation and its activities are still kept secret.
The "Institute for War Research" was first called "Special Warfare Institute", and afterwards it was renamed "Special Forces Command". It's command heads the departments, leading and centralising their activities. The Gendarme Corps, the Gendarmerie Intelligence Service to Combat Terrorism (JITEM), the Special Operation Teams, the Village Guards, the Special Commando Units and the OHAL (Emergency State Areas) governors work under the leadership of the command. Furthermore it commands the Special Operation Units (judicially ordered by the Interior Department and belonging to the Police Chief structure), the Anti-Terror Departments, the MIT (National Intelligence Service) and the Civil Defence Organisation (also officially belonging to the Interior Department). All these organisations are controlled by the contra-guerrilla. The activities of the contra-organisations MHP and Hizbullah are also controlled through this command by the contra-guerrilla. All of them combined constitute the military hitting power in the war against the people. The activities are not limited to the military field. The psychological warfare, important in the war against the people, is also controlled by the command through the Department for Psychological Warfare. This psychological warfare is conducted by the media and also maintains contacts with the employers and several economical institutions.
In its war against the people, the contra-guerrilla tries to get rid of all obstacles in its way. It therefore has its fingers in all state positions. It is organised in the state bureaucracy. It occupies important positions within the state through MHP-members or supporters of the contra-guerrilla. The contra-guerrilla is also organised in the judicial apparatus, among the judges and the state prosecutors. Also parliament is to be kept under control of the contra-guerrilla. The parties who are represented in parliament are accordingly manipulated.

National Security Council (MGK) And Parliaments

The military controls the National Security Council (MGK), in which the general staff, the commanders of the armed forces, the president, the prime minister, and the Interior and Defence minister are represented. The advice of the MGK to the government are in fact nothing less than direct orders. Judicially, the MGK is controlled by parliament, but until now no government has ever risked to ignore a MGK advice. De facto the MGK controls parliament. This power does not stem from laws or the judicial apparatus, it stems from the contra-guerrilla organisation within the state and its military strength. This perfectly fits a contra-guerrilla state and a contra-guerrilla justice. The MGK is a contra-guerrilla organisation. It's a product of the September 12 junta. Even without any judicial basis the MGK controls parliament. All laws and decisions by parliament must be confirmed by the MGK before they are passed. Any other conduct would get a government into serious problems, no party could get away with that. It is said the contra-guerrilla was behind the attack against prime-minister Turgut Ozal because he had a conflict with the MGK about the Kurdish problem. It is not clear whether or not this is really the case, but it is certain the assailant Kartal Demirdag did not act out of personal interests. Furthermore it is said that the former SHP (Social-democratic Party) chairman Erdal Inonu stepped down because of a conflict with the MGK. Inonu remains silent about this.
The common goal of US-imperialism and the contra-guerrilla was -and remains- to establish a pro-American government and to keep it in power. For this reason Demirel was trained in the US, appointed as representative of the US-firm Marrison for Turkey and supported in all elections. For the same reason Turgut Ozal was first trained in the US after the September coup and than elected as prime-minister in the sham elections of 1983 as a known supporter of the US. And because of her co-operation with the MGK, Ciller was appointed as chairman of the DYP. Trained in the US, and a US national herself, Tansu Ciller has until now always been supported in the elections by the US. As thanks she appointed the contra-guerrilla chiefs Dogan Gures, Mehmet Agar, Unal Erkan, Hayri Kozakcioglu, Necdet Menzir and Sedat Bucak into parliament. This also shows the contra-guerrilla has increased its power over parliament in time. But the contacts of the contra-guerrilla go beyond this. Members of the civilian fascist organisations or not only found in the MHP or its split, the BBP. A lot of them can be found in the DYP and ANAP. Eight members of the advisors staff of Mesut Yilmaz are former MHP members. The new minister of the Interior Meral Aksener, who replaced Mehmet Agar, stems from a MHP family and has a MHP background herself. It might be difficult to proof direct or indirect connections between individual parliamentarians and the contra-guerrilla, but when we look at politics, it becomes clear that no political party, including the social democrats, can ignore the contra-guerrilla. The contra-guerrilla conducted even the most brutal actions, provocations and massacres during the period of the coalition government between the social-democratic SHP and the DYP. In short: there are no differences between left-wing and right-wing parties in parliament. In the end all parties are, directly or indirectly, accomplices of the contra-guerrilla and the executors of its policy.

Civil Fascist Organisations

MHP:
In all the countries where the contra-guerrilla was established, it founded civilian fascist organisations or it fell back on already existing fascist organisations, making these organisations into a support base of the international contra-guerrilla. The contra-guerrilla has always needed this kind of organisations and used them in its war against the people. The CIA, for example, used the experience of Nazi officers and Gestapo agents in founding the contra-guerrilla and deter mining its tactics.
It was established that Catli travelled from Latin-America to Miami on September 9, 1992, accompanied by Stefano delle Chiale, co-ordinator of the international drug trade for the CIA. Stefano delle Chiale is a CIA agent. He is also chief of the Italian Gladio, founder and chairman of the North-Italian fascist party and responsible for a bomb attack in Bologna in which 81 people were murdered.
The first civilian fascist organisation in Turkey of the contra-guerrilla was the "Combat Organisation against Communism", founded before 1970 by Turkes. After the coup of 1980, the need for fascist organisations was even bigger for the oligarchy. Led by Alparslan Turkes, the MHP was founded. The then chairman of the intelligence service of the general staff, the retired admiral Sezai Okunt meant: "the armed forces were more afraid of the left than for the right because the right was not organised till then. The organisation of the right started with the MHP. Turkes received a lot of help in those days". (Hurriyet, November 19, 1990)
Leading MHP cadres took over the leadership of the civilian fascist movements. The youth was organised in the "Ulku Ocak" (literally: the Idealist Herd, the Grey Wolves) and the "MHP youth associations". Under the control of the Special Warfare Department they were trained in military combat in Elazig, Kayseri, Eskisehir, Gaziantep and Cannakale by the contra-guerrilla.
The contra-guerrilla uses the fascist organisation in several ways. As anti-Communists they are the natural supporters of fascism and they are used as a mass weapon and a basis. Sometimes the civilian fascist organisations are used as a hitting force against the revolutionary-democratic opposition. The contra-guerrilla uses members of civilian fascist organisations everywhere in the country for gathering information, provocations, sabotage and massacres.
It suits the state very well to have the dirty work done by civilian fascist organisations. Because if their actions, provocations, sabotage and massacres are disclosed, it's easier for the state to deny any involvement. Until the coup of September 12, 1980, the fascist organisations of the contra-guerrilla like the MHP and its youth organisation Ulku Ocaklari carried out thousands of actions for the state, murdering revolutionaries, democrats and patriots. But the state was able to present these acts as a result of confrontations between the left and the right, thus twisting the heads of the people.
Before September 12, 1980, the contra-guerrilla had the fascists kill thousands of people, among them well-respected people, known progressives, like the educators Bedrettin Comert, prof. Bedri Karafakioglu, prof. Cavit Orhan Tutengil, prof. Umit Doganay, the teacher Orhan Yavuz, Umit Kaftancioglu, the chief-editor of the Milliyet Abdi Ipekci, state prosecutor Dogan Oz, the chief of police in Adana Cevat Yurdakul and DISK chairman Kemal Turkler. Alparslan Turkes was accused of personally giving the order to kill Kemal Turkler, but he was acquitted. During the trial his aids, Yilma Durak and Aydin Esi, testified that when Kemal Turkler was mentioned during a meeting, Turkes gave them a sign, meaning: Tear his head off.
Another example of the relation between the contra-guerrilla and the MHP fascists was the attack against the then chairman of the ANAP and prime-minister Turgut Ozal. The assailant, Kartal Demirag, was a MHP fascist, trained in Dazkin by the contra-guerrilla. Kartal Demirag was later arrested and sentenced. But the investigation of the case was blocked by the contra-guerrilla, preventing the truth of coming out. The chairman of the investigation committee, appointed by Ozal, the retired judge of the Court of Appeal (the highest court in Turkey), Ugur Tonuk, stopped his work after he was threatened. Demirdag was released after 4 years. The attack was first offered by the contra-guerrilla to MHP member Veli Can Oduncu, imprisoned in Gaziantep and sentenced before September 12, 1980, because of his participation in several massacres. However, he refused to do the job. When the offer was reported in the press, he was found murdered in prison. From the beginning the MHP was supported by the CIA and the capitalists in Turkey. For example: the Turkey specialist of the CIA after 1974 who worked at the US-embassy in Ankara before 1980, CIA agent Paul Henze, is one of the best friends of Alparslan Turkes. Another example is Ruzi Nazar who until 1971 worked as a CIA agent in Ankara. After 1971, Ruhi Nazar went to Germany as leader of the MHP. One of the financiers of the MHP, Murat Bayrak ­ born in Yugoslavia ­ was a Nazi who played a major role in organising the MHP in Germany. Ugur Mumcu describes the MHP financiers in his book "The Pope, the Mafia and Agca" in this line-up: "Berker Inanoglu, Ali Kocman, Feyyaz Berker, Jak Kamhi, Emin Hattat, Halit Narin, Mete Has and Mafia-boss Dundar Kilic".
Nowadays it's no coincidence that the Mafia gangs, connected with the contra-guerrilla, are mostly led by fascists. The state uses hundreds of people like Catli, hundreds of MHP members or members of its youth organisation as professional killers in its war against the people. As long as the "Special Warfare", waged by the contra-guerrilla against the people continues, the contra-guerrilla will need this kind of fascist murderers. Because they are best suited for this filthy work. That's why the biggest source for the cadres of the "Special Operation Units", founded after 1980, is the MHP.

Hizbullah:
The Hizbullah is a contra-guerrilla organisation, consisting of civilians. It was founded under the control of the contra-guerrilla to cut off the national movement of the Kurds. It could be said that it is a version of the MHP, using a religious ideology as its basis in stead of nationalism. The contra-guerrilla feared that the nationalist and racial ideology of the MHP would not find much support among the Kurdish people, the Hizbullah was founded in stead. Between 1992-1994 some 500 people were organised in the Hizbullah. The massacres by other contra-guerrilla were attributed to the Hizbullah. This also help the state to pretend having clean hands. This contra-guerrilla organisation which organises among the people on a religious basis, has been brought to do the dirty work for the state. Youth between 16-20 years old are used for the actions of Hizbullah. They were organised in meeting centres, schools, mosques and book-stores, and trained by the contra-guerrilla. The attacks were mostly carried out with guns and butcher's knives. The security of the attackers was guaranteed by the police. In his confession the battalion commander Cem Ersever stated about Hizbullah: "The two persons who were in contact with Hizbullah are Alaatin Kanat and Adem Yakin. They always told us: ŒThe Hizbullah is the enemy of the PKK. The enemy of my enemy is my friend. The security forces must in no case fight the Hizbollah, they should rather clear its way.' And what these two men said, happened. The security forces protected the Hizbullah and they strengthened them. The best Hizbullah execution teams consisted of (PKK) traitors."

Village Guards:
One of the ways of the contra-guerrilla to protect the state against the growth of the national Kurdish movement is to institutionalise the village guards in the war against the people. In this way they wanted to incite the Kurdish people to fight against each other. And at the same time a armed support organisation for the contra-guerrilla was formed. There have been similar examples in the past.
With two new paragraphs added to the "Village Laws in paragraph 74" on March 26, 1985, the judicial hindrances were lifted for the village guards.
In the founding years the tasks of the village guards was explained like this: "to protect their village territory against the PKK". The first source for the village guards were nomadic tribes. To make the task of the village guards more popular, they were promised wages. They were granted insurances and pensions. To make the task really attractive, even very old people ­ who in reality couldn't do the job anymore ­, sick people, disabled people and women were made village guards. In the judicial basis for the village guards, paragraph 7 reads: "They must be able to read and write Turkish, they must have absolved their military duty, they must not have served more than 50 days in jail and not been accused of acts they must be ashamed of" etc. In reality this law was not kept. Many who were accused of shameful acts like murder, kidnapping and desertion were pardoned in case they accepted to become village guards. The nomad leader of Jirki, Tahir Adiyaman, is an example for this. The blood feud between several nomadic tribes was used to arm the tribes and to incite them against each other. When one side armed itself, the other had to become village guards to arm themselves as well. The nomads and village people who refuse to become village guards were forced to. Those who could not be convinced by threats were forced with violence. They were told they would be treated as supporters of the PKK in case they would not accept the arms and become village guards. And the threats were put into practice. Hundreds of villages whose inhabitants refused to become village guards were burned down. Hundreds of farmers were murdered and their murder was presented as the result of an armed confrontation between rival clans.
The tasks of the village guards were expanded. In the beginning it was said: "They protect their own villages". Afterwards it read: "It will not be allowed that the guerrilla's visit the villages, it will be prevented that the people from the villages join the guerrilla, the network of spies will be expanded, the people who grant the guerrilla shelter will be found out and they will be forced to join the operations, they will protect the military units, the city institutions, buildings and vehicles." The village guards were made into paid units, next to the military, fighting with the contra-guerrilla against the own people.
In January, 1993, there were 39.000 village guards, in January 1994 there were 50.000, at the end of 1994 there were 56.000 and now there about 60.000.
Every nomad leader who joined the village guards established his own small kingdom. With the support and indulgence of the state, they gathered money. Using their military might, they began to attack villages and burned them down. They started to kidnap people. Murdering and raping, they made money by trafficking arms and drugs. Officially the village guards are subjected to the Interior department, but in fact they are directly led by the contra-guerrilla. Besides using the village guards for its operations, the contra-guerrilla also used traitors of the PKK in separate contra-guerrilla units.

The Special Operations Units:
They were founded by the contra-guerrilla in 1985. Nowadays they number 7.000. Officially they are subjected to the Interior department and the general directorate of the police as a police unit. Many of them are active in Kurdistan. Their headquarters are situated in the cities. They are used in the rural areas in operations against the guerrilla, side by side with the military, as well as for special "tasks" in the city centres.
A large part of the Special Operation Units consists of MHP fascists. Thousands of people were sent to the special units by the MHP and the Ulku Ocaklari. The requirements for the recruits were a high school degree and having absolved military service. In 9 months they are trained in shooting, torturing, interrogation techniques, sabotage, assaults and adoption to the area where they will be stationed. Some of them are sent abroad for training. Their members are not forced to wear uniforms and they are allowed to let their hair grow and grow a moustache and a beard.
Mostly they operate together with military units. Their task is mainly to get rid of the targets which are surrounded by the military. Because of their greed for money, their lumpen, racist and nationalist character they have become the ones who commit the most gruesome massacres against the people. Because they get paid for every head to chop of from the guerrilla's, they became head hunters. To receive rewards, they started to murder farmers, claiming they are guerrilla's. They have become so inhuman, they started to cut of the ears, noses and even the heads of the people, besides torturing and raping them. According to official records, judicial inquiries were started against 1.500 members of the special teams. 500 were dismissed from their duties because they committed acts which were not in accordance with their tasks.

JITEM ­ Gendarmerie Intelligence Service to Combat Terrorism ­
When the OHAL (Laws for the Areas in State of Emergency) came into force in July, 1987, and the founding of the Gendarmerie Army Corps and its information work, the JITEM was established as well. In the beginning the JITEM was intended to gather sound information, monitor the PKK and keep them under control. In a short while, JITEM became equivalent with torture, kidnapping, disappearances and executions. Starting from the cities Diyarbakir, Siirt, Mardin, Cizre, Sirnak, Hakkari and Van, the JITEM buildings became torture centres.
But its activities were not limited to that. From time to time, its members dressed up like guerrilla's to discover which farmers supported the guerrilla, spreading fear among them so they would no longer dare to support the guerrilla. Another important practice was to set up contra-guerrilla cells with traitors, village guards and fascists. One of the founders of the JITEM and its first commander, major Cem Ersever described these cells as "Star Units". The contra-guerrilla organisation JITEM has extraordinary power in the areas under the state emergency where it is active. At any given time it can ask for the handing over of any prisoner by the State Security Court, the police, or even the MIT. It's members possess specially issued police passports and personal cars which license plates have been changed. The JITEM, quickly becoming quite strong in these areas, is able to carry out operations with large forces of its own. Cem Ersever opened state offices in 1991 in Northern Iraq in cities like Zaxo and Erbil. He had close contacts with the Gendarmerie Army Corps commander Esref Bitlisand high state officials. He was dismissed in 1993 after a disagreement with his superior. Before he was murdered he told the media some of the inner secrets of the JITEM. Part of his confessions were published, albeit not under his own name. He was arrested by his own people in the middle of October, 1991. In the morning hours of November 5, 1991, he was found on the highway between Ankara and Kirikale, his hand tied to his back, and two bullets through the back of his head. Shortly after, two more bodies were found. One of them was Mustafa Deniz, considered to be his right hand and the other was Mahsune Dguebe, known as Ersever's girl friend and whose real name was Neval Boz. Mustafa Deniz was once arrested as member of the PKK. He became a traitor and joined the contra-guerrilla. According to Ersever, Neval Boz worked for the MIT when she studied at the university in Syria. Later she worked for the JITEM. Internal conflicts between the enemies of the people, between the gangs, are often accompanied by massacres.

The Anti-Terror Department:
The political department, belonging to the Interior department and founded by the Security Police Directorate, changed its name in 1991 into Anti-Terror Department after the Anti-Terror Act became law in 1991. Its headquarters were situated in Ankara and there was a department in the police stations of all the cities. The contra-guerrilla became best organised in these departments in the cities. The policemen who work for these departments are trained abroad, especially in the US and in Germany.
With the growth of the revolutionary struggle, the power and the responsibilities of these contra-guerrilla unites were expanded as well. The Political Departments, now known as Anti-Terror Departments, have been known for a long time by the people as torture centres. But in the past years it name is more and more mentioned in connection with executions, massacres and disappearances.
Anti-Terror Departments were set up in all police stations. Together with the plainclothes department they control the neighbourhoods of the cities and gather information. A network of spies was set up in all the neighbourhoods and workplaces. For gathering information, policemen, voluntary are forced informants are used. The fascists supply them with voluntary spies. Another practice is to kidnap sympathisers and members of revolutionary organisations and force them to betrayal. Almost without exception, detainees are offered to work as an agent.
Since the intensification of the war against the people in the '90s, the Anti-Terror Departments play a major role. The contra-guerrilla, organised in these departments, is behind almost all cases of disappearances. These cases have become daily policy and arrests are always flatly denied, even if there were a number of witnesses. Also the execution of unarmed people on the streets, presented as an armed confrontation, attacks against mass demonstrations, provocations, false and slanderous reports about revolutionaries... all this is part of the war by the contra-guerrilla, waged by these departments.

MIT ­ The national Intelligence Service ­:
In 1923, after the Republic of Turkey was founded, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk asked Husamettin Erturk to set up an intelligence service. In the Ottoman Empire, Husamettin Erturk had been the director of the intelligence service "Teskilat-i Mahsusa", organised by Germany for Abdulhamit in 1880. The new service, set up by Husamettin Erturk ­ Mudafai Milliye Istihbarat (MM) ­ was renamed Milli Emniyet Teskilati in 1941 (also known as Milli Amele Hizmet ­ MAH). The intelligence service, subordinated to the general staff, was controlled by the American, French and English intelligence services. Even the wages of the Turkish employees were paid by the foreign services. So much for the "national" character of the organisation...
In 1965 the name was changed once again and the organisation was now known as "Millii Istihbarat Teskilati" (National Intelligence Service). A new law was passed to cover its activities. In this period the relations between Turkey and the US and Europe developed which was used by the CIA for its own purposes. From a partly by the CIA controlled organisation, the MIT became a totally controlled organisation. The CIA agent Philip Agee wrote about this: "The CIA had been in contact with the MIT for years. The CIA took care of the training, the development and the equipment of this organisation." (Philip Agee, Diary of the CIA)
From the beginning the MIT worked closely together with the Israeli MOSSAD. According to the deputy director of the MIT, Sabahattin Savasman, who stated in 1977 that he had spied for the CIA, the MIT was organised like this:
"The CIA has a delegation of at least 20 people who co-operate in the MIT with the CIA and who occupy high positions inside the MIT. They supply information, contacts and they participate in operations at home and collectively in operations abroad. (...) All technical equipment is supplied by the CIA. A lot of personnel was trained by the Americans in courses abroad, the buildings were constructed by the CIA, the instructors were supplied by the CIA. (...) The employees have been working for years as CIA agents, for the benefit of the American secret service, it takes over its tasks without pay in operations at home and abroad. (...)
"Our tasks were not just limited in delivering information. When the Shah was still in power in Iran, we had regular meeting every few months with members of the secret services SAVAK and MOSSAD. Most of the times it was the MOSSAD who led these meeting with their quite developed technique. The MOSSAD has a lot of possibilities in our homeland. Hiram Abas participated in operations. (...)
"There were also regular meetings with the German intelligence service. (...) In these meeting military and non-military information, gathered all over the world, was passed."

The directorate of the MIT contra-guerrilla:
The MIT is the largest and best equipped organisation of the state. It is said to have its own planes, helicopters and military units. It has always been kept a secret how many employees it has. 1/3 of the personnel are officers. And a part are pensioned officers. The structure of the MIT is quite complex. Legally it is subordinated to the departments, but in reality it is led by the general staff. As director of the MIT most of the times somebody of the Special Warfare Department is appointed, thus an officer of the contra-guerrilla. Like other organisations, the MIT is interwoven with the contra-guerrilla. But because members of several secret services and several interest groups of the oligarchy are active in it, unavoidably there are power struggles within the MIT.
Although the MIT is supposed to work in the foreign policy field, all its capacities are used for hunting and prosecuting revolutionaries, democrats, progressives and patriots to prevent "enemy activities".

THE LAWS AND THE TASKS OF THE MIT

Anti-Terror Law, 1991:
Art. 8 - Propaganda against the indivisible unity of the state: "Written or spoken propaganda, meetings and demonstrations, notwithstanding the aims and ideas, aimed at destroying the indivisible unity of the state territory and the people, are banned. He who violates this law will be punished with a prison sentence of 2-5 years and a heavy fine."
Art 9 - The competent court: "For procedures because of crimes according this law, the State Security Court is competent." (There are 3 judges in these courts, one of them must be from the military. The state prosecutors are also often from the military)
Art 11 - The length of detention "People, arrested because of a crime under this law, must be brought to court within 48 hours (not including the time necessary for transport from the place of arrest to the nearest court), and in case of jointly committed crimes, within 15 days." (In areas under the state of emergency - large parts of Kurdistan - this can be expanded to 30 days.)
Art. 15 - Prosecution without detention: "Criminal procedures against leading of minor public servants, active in the struggle against terrorism, of the intelligence services or the public order authorities, or against other personnel working for these institutions, for crimes committed in the line of there duty, will be held without the detention of the accused, until the end of the procedures." "The costs of legal defence are paid for, without limitations, by the authority involved, using a especially reservation on the budget."
Other regulations: "Public servants, as mentioned above, including those who are no longer in active duty, may use guns in defence of attacks by terrorist criminals against their lives, or the lives of there husbands or wives, and children."

The Tasks Of The MIT after The New Law Of 1983:
1. Setting up a national security service in the whole country, gathering information about activities against the unity of country and people, against the existence, independence and security of the state, against the laws and the national strength of the land, giving this through to the president, the prime-minister, the general staff, the chairman of the National Security Council and other necessary institutions.
2. Preparing and developing plans for the national security, satisfying the information needs and wishes of the departments through the state president and the prime-minister, and the chairman of the general staff..
3. Leading activities to gather information, making suggestions to the National Security Council and the prime-minister.
4. Advising the state commissions and institutions in activities to distribute information and preventing distribution of information in technical matters, advising and supporting in matters of organising structures.
5. Passing on reports and information, considered necessary by the chief of staff of the Armed Forces.
6. Other tasks as decided by the National Security Council.
7. Fighting information leaks.

THE WORK METHODS OF THE CONTRA-GUERILLA

The Contra-Guerrilla: How Do They Operate?

For securing the existence of the state, all means ­ massacres, provocations, torture, and all kind of cruelties ­ are justified. This view is the basis for the organisation and the manner of operation of the contra-guerrilla, and this determines their degree of unlawfulness. The contra-guerrilla should not be conceived as an organisations which destroys and burns down everything, which commits massacres and plans provocations and intrigues. Of course, in their war against the people they'll make ample use of these methods, but this is just one side of the medal in this war. The contra-guerrilla should be conceived rather as one of the many organisations which were set up for the war against the people, it should be seen in the context in the entirety of this war, waged on several levels by these organisations to oppress the revolutionary struggle. This was is a total war, and with its economical, democratic, political, ideological, psychological and military dimensions, it covers almost all fronts. With the growth of the revolutionary struggle, the contra-guerrilla will apply new means, that's the rule of war. The "Village Guards" (the para-military) ­ set up after 1985 ­, the increasing number (since the beginning of the '90s) of executions, mass murders, kidnappings, murders by "unknown perpetrators", the institutionalisation of treason (deserters), the growing activities if undercover agents and informants, the special teams, the legalisation of the village guard system, the recruitment of special teams, the state of emergency, and the anti-terror laws constituted, together with all the other attacks, an increasing aggression by the contra-guerrilla, opening the total war against the people.

Executions, Disappearences And The Victims Of "Unknown Perpetrators"

Executions, abductions, and murders by "unknown perpetrators" were "practices" of the contras which intensified rapidly after 1991. This development did not come out of the blue sky, of course. 1990 and 1991 were the years Devrimci Sol rose quickly. The strengthening of the revolutionary opposition shocked the oligarchy on its foundations with mass protests, dozens of armed actions and punishments. The Kurdish national movement, which they said to "exterminate" "in spring" could not be exterminated. Furthermore, 1990 and 1991 were the years of the mass protests and the "Intifadah" in Kurdistan. The state, feeling cornered by the expansion of the revolutionary movement and losing its psychological superiority, initiated a new wave of aggression. The chapter of disappearances started with Yusuf Eristi, taken into "custody" on May 14, 1991, in Belgradkapi-Istanbul. Although witnesses testified they saw Yusuf Eristi in the police station, the police never acknowledged officially that he had been arrested. Since then, the reports about "disappearances" increased continuously. Although the exact number is unknown, the balance of the past three years shows more than 400 people who disappeared. Between 1980-1991, there were just 13 cases, in 1991 4 people disappeared, in 1992 there were 8, and in 1993, as far as can be established: 23. This means that there wasn't a "systematic policy" of "disappearances" in that period, whereas the number of "disappearances" grew explosively since 1993 and disappearances, as a method of the contra-guerrilla, became calculated state policy. In 1994, 24 people disappeared. Furthermore, 229 people were "abducted" in Kurdistan and they were never seen again. In 1995, 213 people disappeared in police custody. The method is a CIA method. In earlier years they tested and applied this method in other countries, such as: * Guatemala: since 1966, tens of thousands of people were abducted of killed by the state.
* Uruguay: the Junta, seizing power in June 1973, had thousands of revolutionaries disappeared in the depths of the jungle and in the sewers.
* Chile: General Pinochet, who overthrew the government of Allende, elected by the people in 1973, imprisoned thousands of revolutionaries and opponents in stadiums and had them massacred.
* Argentina: The generals took power in !976. The junta arrested and killed an estimated 30.000 people. Thousands were thrown from planes into the sea.
* Peru: In the past 10 years, some 4.500 people disappeared in a systematic policy.
Why did the Turkish state think it necessary to apply such a policy as well? There are many possible answers. The method of disappearances was preferred to imprisonment and uncertain convictions, and as phrased by the leader of the coup, general Evren: "Should we feed them in stead of hanging them?" As a conclusion, this is certainly accurate, but the goal is not merely the physical annihilation of the opposition, they also want to intimidate the people. The "murders by unknown perpetrators" are used as an element of psychological warfare. Revolutionaries, democrats and patriots are taken away from their houses, their work, or from the street, and their dead bodies are thrown in ditches or river beds, usually after torture. The marks of torture are usually clearly visible and the contra-guerrilla does not make any effort to hide the bodies, they are rather put at places where they are easily found. Not as if they wouldn't have time to "hide" them. The state officials, time and time again, swear that the police, the security organs, act against terror "within the framework of the law", but the contra-guerrilla openly shows its impudence, they will not be hindered by a law or a decree to massacre and torture.

The rise of the number of executions since 1991 is a result of this policy. The murder of the Devrimci Sol fighters Olcay Uzun and Faruk Bayrakci on April 9, 1991 in Izmir, of Hatice Dilek and Ismail Oral on May 19, 1991 in Bayrampasa-Istanbul, of Perihan Demirer on May 28, 1991 in Besiktas-Istanbul, and the massacre of 11 people (among them 10 Devrimci Sol members) on June 12, 1991 in Balmumcu, Nisantasi, Dikilitas and Yeni Levent-Istanbul, revealed that the state developed its policy of executions into a systematic general policy. Since then, hundreds of alleged revolutionaries and patriots were murdered all over Turkey under the pretext of razzias against revolutionary cells. The aim was to kill them, not to arrest them. Weapons were placed next to unarmed people to suggest an armed confrontation. The executions went as far as targeting democratically working sympathisers and supporters. One of the most recent examples was the murder of Irfan Agdas, in the middle of the street, who was distributing the Kurtulus weekly. In a similar manner patriots in Kurdistan, teenagers, who distributed the papers Ozgur Ulke and Ozgur Gundem, were murdered. The policy of executions was not restricted to the major cities, it was a state policy which covered the whole country. The state took a stand of totally annihilating the guerrilla, of not taking them alive. Except for those who surrendered themselves, they started the execute the guerrillas who were captured alive after a fight, in stead of arresting them. The executions and massacres were extended from the guerrilla to the village population, suspected of logistically supporting the guerrilla. People who were taken from their villages, or who were summoned to the police station, were never seen again or their bodies, often tortured, were found next to the street. Looking at the increasing number of executions and "murders by unknown perpetrators", one recognises ­ besides the physical annihilation ­, that the state wants to unleash a wave of terror among the opposition. It's their intention to intimidate, to subdue the revolutionaries, to make them drop their goals, to show them what they have to expect in case they continue their struggle for the people, against the state. The massacres of the past years in the prisons of Buca, Umraniye and Diyarbakir must be seen in this context as well. The people were imprisoned already, but it's not the detention that counts for the contra-guerrilla, it's the resistance. They want to break the resistance which they can not suppress by attacks, culminating into mass murders. This is a threat, not just to those in prison, but also to those who continue the struggle on the outside. The message from the contra-guerrilla to the revolutionaries and patriots is this: "Don't belief you'll only have to come through the torture alive, we can kill you in prison any time we want. In here, there is no guarantee for your life." Like us, all revolutionaries, democrats and patriots know about the high price for revolutionary work in a fascist environment. taken into custody and getting tortured, being arrested and thrown into jail, falling in the struggle against the enemy. These are almost natural consequences of the struggle and the confrontation with the enemy. As a revolutionary, ones accepts this price and one takes a stand in this struggle. But the contra-guerrilla wants to increase this price with its practice of oppression, terror, massacres, disappearances, executions, "murders by unknown perpetrators", and by demonstrating that they are not bound by laws or judicial regulations, they want to erect a wall of fear in the minds, not just of those who are directly active in the struggle, the guerrilla and the militias, but rather in the minds of all, also those who work in the democratic field, revolutionaries, patriots, democrats and even normal workers, union members. Although it is impossible for them to kill all revolutionaries, patriots, sympathisers and supporters, they want to tell the people this: "To get killed, kidnapped or beaten to death, it's not necessary to carry a weapon yourself." To become a target for the contra-guerrilla, it's enough to distribute a revolutionary paper of magazine, to be active in a legal association, to show solidarity with the revolutionaries. Because it's the law of the contra-guerrilla not to know any laws. They lost all measure for guilt and punishment, for them an enemy is just an enemy, no matter what he has done, no matter whether his deeds are punishable be present law, or not. An enemy is an enemy, and all kinds of punishment are justified. And thus: "Watch your steps, if you're a revolutionary, then quit. If you're not, then keep away from them, do not participate in acts against the state, otherwise it will end badly for you."

Well, now the questions arises whether the state succeeds with this policy, or whether the true character of the state is revealed even more forced because of this policy? The state applies more modern methods and develops new strategies to get results at any price, an act which also means the failure of its formerly practised strategy to suppress the revolutionary struggle. It did not succeed to suppress the revolutionary, democratic opposition with its policy of extra-judicial executions, the murders by "unknown perpetrators" and the disappearances. But claiming that this policy has had no effect at all on the people would be extremely optimistic. It has played a "constraining" role in certain places. It's obvious that the spread of fear and the height of the "price" which has been paid, caused the strengthening of the tendency of the petite-bourgeoisy, who did not separate themselves totally from the system, even of the petite-bourgeois revolutionary organisations, to return back to the system. As often as the state denies this policy, it can not prevent its revelation. To lengthen the "life" of the status quo, of having to choose between preventing a revolution and risking to get exposed, it chooses for the latter, of course. It's forced to take these risks, because it does not have the capability and the reserves to invoke democratic and economic reforms to fulfil the needs of the people. And so it does not have an alternative but to suppress the opposition, the people, by repression and terror.

Report By Human Rights Association 1996

2395 people were killed in armed conflict.
59 people were murdered by "unknown perpetrators".
191 people disappeared in custody.
According to the official figures, 191 people were tortured in police custody. 17,604 people were actually tortured, although this number is not officially confirmed.
109 people were murdered.
95 bomb attacks were carried out by state forces.
67 villages were depopulated and burned down.
170 people were jailed because of their political convictions.
12 political prisoners died in jail during the Death Fast.
5 prisoners put themselves on fire in protest against the conditions in prison.
In the attack against Umraniye Prison four prisoners died, in the attack against Diyarbakir Prison 11 prisoners were killed. The prisoners Kalender Kayapinar, Umit Dogan Gonul, Mustafa Kaya and three others died because they were not medically treated.
108 associations and unions were attacked.
97 press organs and publications were banned.
342 journalists were arrested.
167 editions of papers and magazines were confiscated. Journalists and writers were sentenced to 164 years in prison and a fine of
9, 401 billion TL in total.

Torture

Countless pages could be filled with reports of the victims of the torturers of the Turkish state. The methods of torture are as manifold as the human brain can be inventive in finding possibilities to tormentpeople. Most of the thousands of people arrested in 1996 in Turkey alone were subjected to torture. The police stations in Turkey all have their torture chambers, without exception. Arrested people can be held for 15 days by the Turkish police (in the emergency state areas up to 30 days), without seeing a lawyer, without seeing a public prosecutor or a magistrate. During this period, the arrested are regularly tortured. But the torture does not stop when they are later kept on remand or sent to jail. Also in prison, during the transfer to court, during transfers to other prisons or to hospital, torture continues. Some do not survive the torture. Some are disabled for the rest of their life. Almost all are haunted for the rest of their life by the terrible memories of this period of injuries, pain and disgrace. The tortures make no difference. All who fall into their hands are tortured, it doesn't matter whether the victim is 13 or 83, whether it is a man or a woman. Even pregnant women are tortured. From the numerous reports about torture in Turkey, we've only selected a few. They serve as examples of arbitrariness, cruelty and the loss of all human feelings of the Turkish torturing bullies.
Manisa:
The case of the youths in Manisa attracted special attention. On December 25, 1995, 15 secondary school pupils in Manisa aged from 14 to 19 were arrested along with their teacher and severely tortured. Even though the fact of torture was confirmed by doctors, the confessions obtained through torture were accepted by the court. Although the pupils disowned the statements they had given and there was no other proof against them, 12 of them were sentenced to from 2.5 to 12.5 years in jail for membership of the DHKP-C.

What is the purpose behind torture?

According to unofficial statistics, last year more than 17,000 people were tortured during 14 days in police custody. Torture affects everyone, regardless of age or gender... Everyone in Turkey who decides to stand up for democracy, justice and human rights decides simultaneously to risk torture and death. There is no legal protection against this because police responsible for torture are never found guilty by the courts. This is how the state endeavours to intimidate the people and suppress opposition.

Disappearences

The families of disappeared daughters and sons cannot go to a grave and say a funeral oration. They cannot stretch out a clenched fist and say , "Our children are immortal," because their children are neither alive nor dead. Even the right to a gravestone is taken from them. So being "disappeared" is different from being dead.
The policy of "disappearances" became a method of worldwide notoriety in the 1970s as a result of its use by contra-guerrillas in Latin America. The dictators hunted thousands of people like animals and had them murdered. Nobody knows how they were killed or where they were buried. Sometimes the graves were found years later. Mostly the corpses could no longer be identified by their families.
After Latin America, the policy of making people disappear is being used more and more in Turkey. In 1995 Turkey had the most "disappearances" in the world. Probably in 1996 it will continue to lead the world in terms of this sad statistic.
Aysenur Simsek: one of hundreds
She was born in Ankara in 1968. After she graduated from the pharmacy faculty, she opened a chemist's shop. But she had picked up some political education. She began to organise protests. Later she closed her shop in order to devote herself entirely to politics. In organising office workers in Ankara, she showed great organisational skills and a tremendous capacity for work. She was also one of the founders of Saglik-Sen (trade union for health workers).
When she was abducted by the contra-guerrillas, she was the chair of Saglik-Sen. Before her abduction she came under massive pressure from the police. Her family received death threats on the phone, demanding that Aysenur give up political work. But she did not let herself be intimidated, because she thought spreading resistance was more important than her life.
On January 24 1995 she was abducted by the contra-guerrillas and on January 29 she was killed by three shots in the head, chest and chin, fired at close range.
After her family realised she had been abducted, her family and friends began to look for her. Even though they asked at all police establishments about her, they received the same answer: "We don't have her."
On April 13 Aysenur was found. The state lawyer's office in Kirikkale called her family and told them of the spot where the body was buried. To this day, investigations have naturally been fruitless.

Executions

To describe 15 years in Turkey briefly, two words suffice: disappearances and extra-judicial executions. In this period, about 25,000 people were massacred by state security or paramilitary forces, mostly in the villages and mountains of Kurdistan.
The main reason given is this: "They were members of an organisation." After a massacre is carried out, the investigations by the state are restricted to determining whether the murder victim was a member of an organisation. It must be mentioned that most of the people executed are not members of an organisation. Their only crime is to be considered revolutionaries or democrats by the police.
When the authorities do happen to institute proceedings against the police, the same people are charged again and again. It is obvious that these police are an execution squad. Up to now, none of these murderer policemen have been sentenced for a crime. Evidence disappears mysteriously, or judges openly take sides with the murderer policemen.
The orders for executions and massacres were in all cases issued by the police presidents (Mehmet Agar, Necdet Menzir and so on) who were in office at the time.
April 12 1995, in Batikent-Ankara: one of hundreds of examples
Mustafa Selcuk, Sirin Erol and Seyhan Ayyildiz were executed during an operation in Ankara, in Batikent's Kardelen district, in Haritacilar Sitesi, Block 13, number 10. As they always do in such cases, the police said, "The call to surrender was answered with shots. The militants were taken into custody dead."
The investigation into the incident conducted by the delegation from the Platform for Rights and Freedom produced a different finding.
"The relevant government official said there was an armed conflict and described the operation as a great success. This is how they try to justify this massacre. When we investigated in the house it was clear that no clash had taken place. The evidence showed that Mustafa Selcuk, Sirin Ekol and Seyhan Ayyildiz were executed while lying on the ground. There were 64 gunshot wounds in the corpses. This showed that the house was stormed with the aim of killing the revolutionaries. In the house there were no signs of a clash. All windows and furniture were undamaged. Everything was in its place. The only sign of a clash was the shots fired by the police.
"The clash did not last an hour, like the police said. The operation was carried out by the police in five minutes and was a premeditated murder. This is a great disgrace for humanity."

Destruction Of Villages And Food Embargo

Thousands of villages in Kurdistan have been destroyed, the inhabitants were murdered or driven away. The rural areas of Kurdistan are depopulated. A humane life in the cities has become impossible, the struggle for survival has rendered other thoughts a luxury. Hundreds of operations were carried out in the Kurdish areas in 1996 again against the PKK. Every time a village was completely destroyed, the Turkish media proudly reported a "new success in the struggle against terrorism". When dozens of civilians are shot, they talk about a victory against the guerrilla. The food supplies for the civilian population are being rationed to prevent food is given to the guerrilla. Thousands of people, even 15 year old children, are forced to become "village guards". But even with these methods of annihilation the Turkish military is not able to win the struggle against the guerrilla. More and more people are going into the mountains to confront this system. In 1996, the Turkish military even had to endure criticism by the loyal media why 2.000 heavily armed soldiers were needed to attack a single village. Houses and villages are not only destroyed in the Kurdish areas. In the major cities, especially in Istanbul, the houses of the poorest among the poor, the Gececondular, are being attacked and destroyed. According to Turkish law, a house which is built on state owned land overnight becomes the legitimate property of the builder. Contrary to this law, also in 1996 countless Gececondu-houses were demolished by the state, leaving the inhabitants, whose most valuable (and often only property) is their house, without any means.

"Solidarity with Sivas continues
"The Platform for Solidarity with the People in Sivas made a press statement on the Ozgurluk Meydani in Bakirkoy in which they protested against the depopulation of the area, the arrests and the torture. 63 villages have been depopulated in the area of Sivas. 111 primary schools were closed in Divrigi, 63 in Zara. 500 peasants, among them 75 village mayors, were arrested and tortured. Some 300 villages were surrounded by the state security forces. At present there are around 200 soldiers and members of the Special Units in the villages of Baloca and Dikmecay... "We demand an end to the oppression of the population and an end of the embargo against the villages. We demand that these villages are not depopulated any longer and that the governor of Sivas will be suspended", the statement reads. "February 1st, 1996, Politika"
"11 Villages raided in Sivas
"During the last 5 days the state security forces raided 11 villages in the area between Sivas, Divrigi, Zara and Kangal. 20 peasants, among them mayors as well, were arrested. Three peasants are still missing. It is reported that temporary guards were deployed in several villages in Divrigi. The soldiers are conducting house searches. The peasants are not allowed to leave the villages. After sundown, they are not even allowed to leave the house."
"September 12, 1996, Cumhuriyet - Sabah - Zaman - Aksam"
"Food embargo against Tunceli
"Mayor Mazlum Aslan stated the whole city was surrounded. A delegation of representatives of the Human Rights Association (IHD) and democratic organisations went to Tunceli to monitor the situation. The delegates requested information from several official institutions about the food embargo and executions.
"October 19, 1996, Kurtulus"
"Gececondus destroyed in Eskisehir
"Like in the Gececondular (slum areas) of Istanbul, the houses of the poor are destroyed in other cities as well. In Eskiseher, 21 houses were destroyed by the state. The inhabitants said the state had promised to leave their houses in peace, but this promise had been broken.
"October 29, 1996, Kurtulus"
"Protest against the food embargo in Dersim
"On October 12, the district mayors of Dersim and Tunceli staged a protest in Guven Park (Ankara) against the food embargo in Dersim. Banners were shown with the texts: "We want to return, are we not human beings?" and "We demand compensation". A message for the prime-minister was drawn up as well, demanding the end of the food embargo in Dersim. It is also said that the people who were driven away from Dersim want to go back, they do not want to be treated as criminals any longer. Furthermore they demand that the massacres are being stopped.
"November 1, 1996, Kurtulus"

Part II