The deep state in Turkey () is an alleged group of influential anti-democratic coalitions inside the Turkish political structure, composed of high-level elements within the intelligence services (domestic and foreign), the Turkish military, security agencies, the judiciary, and mafia. The political agenda of the deep state network purportedly involves an allegiance to nationalism, corporatism, and state interests. Violence and other means of pressure have historically been employed in a largely covert manner to manipulate political and economic elites, ensuring that specific interests are met within the seemingly democratic framework of the political landscape. Former President Süleyman Demirel said that central to the outlook and behavior of the predominantly military elites who constitute the deep state, is an effort to uphold national interests which have been shaped by an entrenched belief, dating back to the fall of the Ottoman Empire, that the country is always "on the brink".
The alleged ideology of the deep state is anti-socialist, ultranationalist, secularist, anti-Kurdish, anti-democratic, and anti-liberal. As pointed out by former prime minister Bülent Ecevit, the diversity of opinion reflects the diversity of the various deep state coalitions, as the deep state is not so much an alliance, as several groups that work behind the scenes, each in pursuit of its own agenda. Another explanation contradicts the reduction of the deep state to an interest network and defines it as a type of domination based on the high level of autonomy enjoyed by the military that enables the security apparatus to disrupt formal democratic institutions (in the foreground) by employing a sui generis repertoire of informal institutions (in the background), i.e. putsch threat, autocratic cliques, mafia, organized crime and corruption.Söyler, Mehtap, "Informal institutions, forms of state and democracy: the Turkish deep state", Democratization, Volume 20, Issue 2, 2013, 310–334. Rumours of a deep state existing have been widespread in Turkey since Ecevit's term as prime minister in the 1970s, after his revelation of the existence of a Turkish counterpart to Italy's Operation Gladio, the "Counter-Guerrilla". In January 2007, then Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan publicly stated his acknowledgement of the existence of the deep state.
Many Turkish citizens, including elected politicians, suspect that the deep state exists, and may hold the key to unexplained events.
Background According to Robert F. Worth, "The expression 'deep state' had originated in Turkey in the 1990s, where the military colluded with drug traffickers and hitmen to wage a dirty war against Kurdish insurgents".Worth, A Rage for Order, 2016: p. 139 The term (derin devlet) "colloquially speaking" refers to "'criminal' or 'rogue' element that have somehow muscled their way into power" according to Ryan Gingeras. Dexter Filkins describes it as a "presumed clandestine network" of Turkish "military officers and their civilian allies" who, for decades, "suppressed and sometimes murdered dissidents, Communists, reporters, Islamists, Christian missionaries, and members of minority groups—anyone thought to pose a threat to the secular order". Hugh Roberts stated that it is the "shady nexus" between the police and intelligence services, consisting of "certain politicians and organized crime", whose members believe they are authorized "to get up to all sorts of unavowable things" because they are "custodians of the higher interests of the nation".
Charles Tilly wrote of an "interdependence between the historical processes of war-making and state-making and organized crime. 'Banditry, piracy, gangland rivalry, policing and war-making all belong on the same continuum'".
In From Deep State to Islamic State, Jean-Pierre Filiu notes a resemblance between the Mamluks of Egypt and the Levant (1250–1517), and the alleged security service "deep states" of today's the Middle East. In both cases, they proclaimed themselves servants of their state's putative rulers—the Caliph in the case of the Mamluks, and "the People" in the case of contemporary Algeria, Egypt, Syria, and Yemen—while actually ruling themselves.
Ottoman Empire Turkish secret societies date back to the Ottoman Empire. Sultan Selim III (reigned 1789–1807), for example, founded a secret committee, essentially a personal army to protect himself since he had been attacked following the wars against Russia and Austria of 1787 to 1792. Even his second-in-command, the Grand Vizier, remained unaware.
Conspiratorial coalitions became particularly active during the Committee of Union and Progress era (1889–1918), when they planned the deposition of the Sultan. One infamous hitman, Yakup Cemil, was employed by the state, and shot on Enver Pasha's command after he was no longer needed. The Special Organization was a secret organization that carried out the Armenian genocide. According to Vicken Cheterian, today's deep state traces its roots to this era:
Some say that these societies were instrumental in Turkification following the demise of the Ottoman Empire. The secret policy of Turkification was allegedly carried out by covert groups in order for its instigators not to be discovered. (original)
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (1881–1938) availed himself of secret societies (the Sentinel Association, for example) that today would be considered special forces units to further the republican cause. Some hold that today's alleged deep state is a continuation of these societies.
Counter-Guerrilla
After World War II, an organized and institutionalized form of the deep state was set up with American guidance to counter a possible Soviet invasion, under the Special Warfare Department (, or ÖHD). The ÖHD, termed the "Turkish Gladio" by some, was described by its former leader Kemal Yamak as a stay-behind resistance group.
Speaking to Derya Sazak of the daily Milliyet, former Republican People's Party representative Süleyman Genç said that the ÖHD exerted such influence that it hampered the Turkish Armed Forces, and identified the ÖHD as the core of the deep state. Genç pressed for a parliamentary inquiry on the phenomenon in 1978. Still, party chairman and prime minister Bulent Ecevit insisted he drop the matter, after talking to the ÖHD chief, Kemal Yamak, who said that the ÖHD would not interfere in civilian affairs and that politicians should not probe further. Genç's house in Karyağdı Street, Ankara was subsequently bombed on 5 January 1979.
Murat Belge of Istanbul Bilgi University says that the deep state became increasingly active during the multi-party period, as factions within the state vied for power.
Grey Wolves
Kendal Nezan of the Kurdish Institute of Paris said that Abdullah Çatlı, a Grey Wolves leader who was killed in the Susurluk car crash, "is reckoned to have been one of the main perpetrators of underground operations carried out by the Turkish branch of the Gladio organization and had played a key role in the bloody events of the period 1976–1980 which paved the way for the military coup d'état of September 1980." Abdullah Çatlı had been wanted by the authorities for several things, including his involvement of the murder of seven leftist university students." The investigation identified a falsified passport and gun license signed by the Turkish Interior Minister Mehmet Agar, who had met with the group shortly before the accident. Çatlı was seen in the company of Avanguardia Nazionale founder Stefano Delle Chiaie, while touring Latin America and on a visit to Miami in September 1982.
Apart from Çatlı, ultra-nationalists used by the Turkish intelligence agencies included Mehmet Ali Ağca (who attempted to assassinate the Pope), Haluk Kırcı, İbrahim Çiftçi, Tugay Maraşlı, Yahya Efe, Oral Çelik, Mehmet Şener, Alaattin Çakıcı, Nurullah Tevfik Ağansoy, Ali Yasak, Abuzer Uğurlu, and Bekir Çelenk.İnsel, Ahmet. "Rutininde İç Düşman Olan Devlet", Birikim, March 2000, Vol. 131, quoted pp. 56–58 of the 1998 Report from the Human Rights Foundation of Turkey In the 1990s, these people, who maintained contacts among security forces, were involved in various illegal activities (including gambling, drug trafficking, and money laundering) which were uncovered during the 1996 Susurluk scandal.
1990s onwards
In 1992, the commander of the ÖHD, General Kemal Yilmaz declared that the special department was still active in the Kurdish–Turkish conflict.
Formations such as the Doğu Çalışma Grubu (1993 alleged Turkish military coup), Batı Çalışma Grubu (1997 military memorandum) and TUSHAD are alleged by various sources to have continued clandestine work in the military and beyond. These groups have broadly aimed to defend Turkey against Islamism and separatism (particularly Kurdish separatism). Still, links with ultra-nationalist-linked mafia groups (Susurluk scandal) have also been seen, and links with Kurdish groups such as Kurdish Hizbollah. These various groups may have links with the Ergenekon organization pursuing a similar agenda in matters such as the 2003 "Sledgehammer" coup plan, but the details are unclear.
In 2008, dozens were indicted and arrested in the Ergenekon investigation for conspiring to oust the Justice and Development Party in 2009.
Ex-special forces soldier Ayhan Çarkın who worked for deep state claimed that deep state was behind the Başbağlar massacre.Basbaglar katliami, Bilan kazasi olayi, Jave köyleri ... Ayni ekip yapti bunlari. Basbaglar katliami kesinlikle Ergenekon zihniyeti ürünüdür,
Acknowledgement of its existence The first to publicly point at the existence of an influential, secret coalition, was Prime Minister Bülent Ecevit, who in 1974 revealed the "Counter-Guerrilla". Until then, the United States had been funding the Special Warfare Department (, or ÖHD) under Joint United States Military Mission for Aid to Turkey (JUSMMAT) program; a Truman Doctrine-based initiative. When annual aid negotiations fell through, the commander of the ÖHD, General Kemal Yamak, asked General Semih Sancar, then the Chief of General Staff to ask Ecevit for a slush fund of 1 million dollars. It was at that point Ecevit learned of its existence, and demanded a briefing. His inquisitiveness and attempt to rein in the organization resulted in an assassination attempt at Izmir airport in 1977. In his memoirs, Yamak said that Ecevit's party itself contained ÖHD operatives, who were selected and educated at a young age by the chief of staff. When Ecevit obliquely asked Yamak about the extent of the party's infiltration Yamak told him not to worry, as the "boys were upright and specially educated ... does that not make them better members of parliament? Besides, have any of them been implicated in a scandal?"
Former President and General Kenan Evren, who led the 1980 military coup related in his memoirs a meeting with the then-Prime Minister Süleyman Demirel on May 5, 1980, stating that Demirel asked him to use the staff of the ÖHD in the fight with the terrorists apparently hinting at the incident in Kizildere village on March 30, 1972. Kenan Evren refused, stating that he would not allow renewed rumours about counter-guerrillas.Kenan Evren'in Anıları. Istanbul 1990, p. 431: "Başbakan Süleyman Demirel, Özel Harp Dairesi'ndeki personeli teröristlerle mücadelede kullanmamızı ve onlarla çete savaşı yaparak öldürmemizi, vaktiyle de bu teşkilatın böyle kullanılmış olduğunu söyledi. 1971 sıkıyönetim dönemindeki Kızıldere olayında kullanılan personeli kastediyordu. Bu hal tarzına şiddetle karşı çıktım. Genelkurmay Başkanı olduktan sonra bu daireyi esas görevine yönelttiğimi tekrar kontrgerilla söylentileri istemediğimi söyledim." Kenan Evren made similar remarks in the daily Hürriyet of November 26, 1990. Meanwhile, former Prime Minister Tansu Çiller embraced both "those who died for the state, and those who killed for the state" as heroes.