Süleyman Demirel Tansu Çiller Mesut Yılmaz Necmettin Erbakan Bülent Ecevit Turkish Armed Forces Ministry of Interior The Kurdish Hezbollah insurgency was a period of assassinations, armed clashes, kidnappings, and other assaults led by the Kurdish Hezbollah between the 1980s and 2000s.
The insurgency started when Kurdish Hezbollah was first founded, and was led by Hüseyin Velioğlu until he was killed by Turkish police in 2000, and then by İsa Altsoy from 2001 until he announced the group's disarmament in 2002.
After 1995, Hezbollah and PKK both stopped targeting each other and shifted their full attention to fighting Turkey, although they had no formal agreement and remained enemies.
[8] According to Turkey, the PKK and Hezbollah made a formal and fully effective ceasefire in 1998, and their relations slowly began to develop, paving the way for future cooperation.
"[16] In a 2012 interview, Cemîl Bayik stated "we do not have intentions to disrespect or start any confrontation, tension, conflict and hatred against the Hezbollah.
The Free Cause Party chairman Hüseyin Yılmaz accused Turks of instigating between both sides, and stated that "The PKK-Hezbollah conflict is purposely wanted to be created."
Yılmaz claimed that the Free Cause Party supported the 2013–2015 PKK–Turkey peace process, and stated that a permanent ceasefire between the PKK and Hezbollah was even more important to them.
[24] Turkish authorities accused Hezbollah militants of dressing like Suleymancis or Nurcus (a group they frequently targeted), and impersonating them in public to avoid being suspected of terrorism.
[28] Adham Barzani provided training to Hüseyin Velioğlu and 300 Kurdish Hezbollah militants in the city of Soran in 1999.
[29] After the arrest of Abdullah Öcalan in 1999, Turkish authorities began focusing on Hüseyin Velioğlu, whose location was unknown due to him constantly moving around before anyone notices.
[34] Mustafa Karasu alleged that Mumcu was killed by the Turkish state in order to prevent his spreading the fact that the PKK was had been infiltrated by the MİT.
[35] During the beginning of the year 2000, Turkish authorities launched the 2000 Istanbul raids, in which they killed Hüseyin Velioğlu, leading to the decline of Hezbollah.
[38][39] Years later, American tech company IBM extracted files from undamaged hard drives from computers which Edip Gümüş attempt to destroy during the shootout with Turkish police in Beykoz.
[4][13] On April 27, 2009, Turkish police raided a Hezbollah house in Elazığ, in their largest operation against the group since Istanbul 2000, in which they found a video of the murder of İzzettin Yıldırım.
"[50] In March 2022, Turkish police belonging to the Anti-Terrorism Branch Directorate raided 4 houses in 3 districts of Istanbul, and arrested 3 people in raids against Hezbollah, the Islamic State, and İBDA-C.[51][52] The Kurdish Hezbollah had diverse members, ranging from the vast majority who were Sunni, to Twelver Shia and Salafi minorities.
[10] Hüseyin Velioğlu managed to keep the different factions united by emphasising their shared Kurdish Muslim identity, and by avoiding sectarianism.
[44] Many of the members who left Turkey started reorganising in Europe, especially Germany, and began opening Hezbollah rebranded organizations, as well as pro-Hezbollah mosques.
Mustazaf Der was active in organizing mass meetings in Kurdish cities to celebrate Muhammad's birthday (Mawlid).
[56] On 20 April 2010 a court in Diyarbakır ordered the closure of Mustazaf-Der on the grounds that it was "conducting activities on behalf of the terrorist organization Hizbollah.
[60] The Free Cause Party remained relatively unknown until they suddenly gained infamy during the 2023 Turkish elections when they joined the People's Alliance of President Erdoğan and became a controversial topic.
[64] Binali Yıldırım, Süleyman Soylu, and Devlet Bahçeli have also claimed that the Free Cause Party has no connection with the designated terrorist organization Hezbollah.