Turkish Hizbullah

Turkish Hizbullah (also known as Kurdish Hizbullah) was formed in 1979 with the goal of overthrowing the Turkish regime and creating a Sharia-based Islamic state. The desire for Islamic revolution in Turkey was inspired by the Iranian Revolution in 1979 and the Muslim Brotherhood movement in Egypt. Turkish Hizbullah does not define itself as Kurdish but allows Kurdish nationalism if it does not contradict an Islamist worldview. The group eventually became a tenuous ally of the Turkish government, fighting against the PKK during its insurgency, especially from 1992 to 1995. Turkish Hizbullah dissolved in 2000 after the Turkish government turned on the group and killed its leader, Huseyin Velioglu. The group resurfaced in 2003 as part of an Islamic charity movement and established its own legal party called Huda Par in 2012. In addition to its core group of illegal militants, the modern Turkish Hizbullah group has dozens of affiliated organizations and leads a broad social movement with hundreds of thousands of followers.