Active 1965–1992 Branch Turkish Army | Country Turkey Type Special Operations | |
The Special Warfare Department (SWD, Turkish: Özel Harp Dairesi (ÖHD)) was the special operations unit of the Turkish Army. Founded in 1965, it was formed out of the Army's Tactical Mobilisation Group (Turkish: Seferberlik Taktik Kurulu, STK). It was disbanded in 1992, with special operations taken over by the new Special Forces Command.
Former members include Korkut Eken.
History
The SWD were also fund and trained by the USA.
The SWD encouraged and protected the Turkish Grey Wolves when they unleashed waves of bomb attacks and shootings that killed thousands of people, including students, lawyers, journalists, public officials, labor organizers, ethnic Kurds and others, in the 1970s.
The SWD was involved in the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974, under the command of Sabri Yirmibeşoğlu. In 2010 Yirmibeşoğlu reported to the television news channel Habertürk TV that Turkey burned a mosque during the Cyprus conflict in order to foster civil resistance against Greeks on the disputed island, and that their rules of war included "false flag" acts, engaging in acts of sabotage made to look as if they were carried out by the enemy.
The SWD established the TMT at Cyprus in 1958 to counter the EOKA and to force partition of the island and supported it logistically and militarily. Arms were transferred from Turkey to support TMT, but as the arms transfer was blocked at international water the SWD contacted arms smugglers for this task.