The Turkish Revenge Brigade (, TİT), also referred as the Turkish Vengeance Brigade, is a

militant The English word ''militant'' is both an adjective and a noun, and it is generally used to mean vigorously active, combative and/or aggressive, especially in support of a cause, as in "militant reformers". It comes from the 15th century Lat ...

Turkish nationalist Turkish nationalism () is nationalism among the people of Turkey and individuals whose national identity is Turkish people, Turkish. Turkish nationalism consists of political and social movements and sentiments prompted by a love for Turkish cu ...

organisation that has used violence against those they perceive as insulting

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

. In the political violence of the 1970s, TİT gained notoriety during political clashes and is believed to be responsible for over 1,000 deaths during this period. After the military coup of 1980, most of its members were arrested. They were later released and utilised by the Turkish military intelligence in operations during the Kurdish-Turkish conflict.

Activity

1979

In 1979, police arrested a man named Cengiz Ayhan in

Mersin Mersin () is a large city and port on the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean coast of Mediterranean Region, Turkey, southern Turkey. It is the provincial capital of the Mersin Province (formerly İçel). It is made up of four district governorates ...

on charges of being the leader of the Turkish Revenge Brigade. Ayhan denied the charges and claimed he was falsely accused of involvement in the group due to his opposition to leftist groups in Turkey.

1993

According to

Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Headquartered in New York City, the group investigates and reports on issues including War crime, war crimes, crim ...

, the murders of parliamentary deputy Mehmet Sincar and the journalist Ferhat Tepe in 1993 were carried out in TİT's name. Later, it was found that Sincar was assassinated by Kurdish Hezbollah, who intended to assassinate Nizamettin Toğuç.

1996

In 1996, it is reported that they were involved with the murder of Turkish Cypriot journalist Kutlu Adalı.

1998

TİT claimed responsibility for an armed attack in 1998 on the then Turkish Human Rights Association president, Akın Birdal, in which he was critically wounded. The perpetrator was the TİT's leader, Mehmet Cemal Kulaksızoğlu received a diplomatic passport by rogue

National Intelligence Organization loction 39°54'25.0"N 32°39'59.3"E The National Intelligence Organization (), also known by its Turkish language, Turkish initials MIT or MİT, or colloquially as the Organization (), is an intelligence agency of the Turkish government tasked ...

officer, Yavuz Ataç. That time Mehmet Cemal Kulaksızoglu never serve with Ataç but they were close friends. The boss of Kulaksizoglu was

Mehmet Eymür Mehmet Eymür (5 September 1943 – 13 January 2024) was a Turkish intelligence official. In 1995–1996 he led the counter-terrorism department of the National Intelligence Organization (MIT), which he joined as a student in 1965 as a "pursuit of ...

2005

Human Rights Association President, Eren Keskin and two HRA board members received death threats while in

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

2008

In 2008, a man named Vatan Bölükbaşı was arrested during the

Ergenekon trials The Ergenekon trials or the Ergenekon conspiracy, were a series of high-profile trials which took place in 2008–2016 in Turkey in which 275 people, including military officers, journalists and opposition lawmakers, all alleged members of Erge ...

. Bölükbaşı later identified himself as a member of TİT and said that he is moving by orders of Veli Küçük.

References

{{Kurdish–Turkish conflict Paramilitary organizations based in Turkey Far-right politics in Turkey Turkish nationalist organizations Anti-communist organizations Anti-Kurdish sentiment