Countering Terrorism and Democratization: Case Study of Turkey Süleyman ÖZEREN, Ph. D.

1. Countering Terrorism and
Democratization:
Case Study of Turkey
Süleyman ÖZEREN, Ph. D.
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2. OUTLINE
 Introduction
 Conceptualization and Understanding of
the Threat
 Case study: PKK/KCK Terrorist
organization
 Counterterrorism strategy
 Current process
 Integrated Counterterrorism Strategy:
Whole-of-society approach

3. TURKEY AND TERRORISM
 Separatist terrorist gropus – PKK/KCK
 Left wing terrorist organizations –
DHKP/C
 Terrorist organizations exploiting
religion.
3

4. UNDERSTANDING TERRORISM
 Multi ethnic
 Not classical hierarchical structure
 Not centrally structured
 Profiles of the terrorists may vary
 More deadly methods are in place
 Broader target profile
 Financial resources are broader
 Cyberterrorism and the use of communication technologies
 International and transnational,
 Has a broader impact on international relations (Afghanistan and
Iraq…)
 Most of the time the religion of Islam is considered as the source of
radicalization…
4

5. UNDERSTANDING TERRORISM
• Terrorism is a crime, having different dynamics.
• Terrorism; violence, anger, vengeance, blood,
illegitimacy, no rule,
• State; democracy, human rights, winning the hearts and
minds of the people, bounded by rules.
• Competition between the terrorists and the state
• The competition is all about gaining the ground.
• Terrorists force the state to deviate from the path of rule
of law,

6. TERRORISM IS A COMMUNICATION STRATEGY
Political periphery
Society
Security
Business Terrorist Agencies
& Capital group
Media
6

7. CONCEPTUALIZATION
How you conceptualize terrorism will determine your
counterterrorism policies.
Conceptualization, not frame working; Islamic, Islamists, global
jihadi network, jihadi terrrorism, etc. Terrorist are using the
same concepts to describe themselves.
 The society will be pushed away, at least they won‟t be
supportive of what you are doing.
 Identification of the ideological background is crucial
 Concepts should be carefully used

8. INDIVIDUAL PROFILE- AGE
14.0%
12.5%
12.0%
10.5% 10.4%
10.0%
7.8%
8.0%
6.7%
6.3%
5.8%
6.0%
4.0%
3.3%
2.8% 2.9% 2.9%
2.2%
2.0% 1.7%
1.4%
1.2% 1.1%
0.7%
0.4% 0.5% 0.3% 0.3%
0.1% 0.1% 0.1% 0.1% 0.1%
0.0%
10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 32 33 34 38 45

9. INDIVIDUAL PROFILE- AGE
30%
26%
25%
20%
19%
18%
20% 17%
15%
10%
5%
0%
24 yaş ve aşağısı 25-29 yaş 30-34 yaş 35-39 yaş 40 yaş ve yukarısı
45% of the members of the PKK/KCK is between the age of 30-34.

10. INDIVIDUAL PROFILE- PROFESSION
1%
21%
Working at a public
Kamu kurumunda çalışıyordu
sector
Working at a private sector
Özel kurumda çalışıyordu
Çalışmıyordu
Jobless
78%

11. LEVEL OF EDUCATION
11

12. GENDER AND MARITAL STATUS
77 of % the members of the
 92 of % the members of the
PKK/KCK terrorists are male and 23 PKK/KCK terrorists are single and
% are female. 8% of them are married.

13. MONEY- LAUNDERİNG
THROUGH ROJ TV
PROPAGANDA
PKK &
FINANCING CYBERSPACE
COMMUNICATION
RECRUITMENT
13

14. PROPAGANDA & COMMUNICATION
WEB SITES OF THE PKK AND AFFILIATED ORGANIZATIONS
www.diclehaber.com www.firatnews.com
www.hpg-online.com www.nadir.org
www.newroz.com www.newroz.net
www.pkk.org www.rojaciwan.com
www.rojaciwan.net www.serxwebun.com
www.serxwebun.org www.teyrenkurdistan.com
www.azadiyawelat.com www.beroj.com
www.ciwanen.org www.gelawej.org
www.sehid.com www.halklarinsesi.com
www.gunluk.com www.gündem-online.com
www.yeniözgürpolitika.com www.yüksekovagüncel.com
www.dozaciwan.com
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15. COUNTERTERRORISM STAGES
SECURITY MEASURES: Countering the terrorist
(operational aspects)
FOCUSING ON UNDERLYING CAUSES: Countering
terrorism (political, social, economic, cultural etc.
policies)
COUNTERING TERRORISM THROUGH IDEOLOGY:
Being able to develop new approaches, ideas to tackle
ideological sentiments of the terrorist organization.
15

16. COUNTERING TERRORISM AND CRISIS
MANAGEMENT
PUBLIC
DEMONSTRATIONS
PUBLIC
DIPLOMACY
MEDIA
NGOs
SHOCKING PLANNED
INCIDENTS OPERATIONS
16

17. WHO IS DEALING WITH TERRORISM
IN TURKISH GOVERNMENT?
Fighting Against
Terrorism
The Ministry Turkish Army The Ministry
Prime Ministry
of Interior General Stuff of Finance
The Under Coast Guard The Financial
National Turkish Gendarmerie
secretariat of Command Crimes
Intelligence National General
Public Order Investigation
Organization Police Command
and Security Board
Counter- Special
Intelligence
Terrorism Operations
Department
Department Department
17

18. WHAT HAVE BEEN DONE?
STRUCTURAL ADJUSTMENTS
 Establishment of the Police Counter Terrorism Dep.
 Establishment of Police Special Forces Dep.
 Contemporary developments in Intelligence services,
 Establishment of temporary village guard system in 1985,
- Voluntary and Source of income for the families
 The Special Courts (State Security Courts)
 Establishment of the Financial Crimes Investigation Board
 Establishment of the Under secretariat of Public Order and Security in
2010
 Coordination and cooperation within different units, organizations and
institutions
 New security measures in border protection
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19. WHAT HAVE BEEN DONE?
STRUCTURAL ADJUSTMENTS
Correctional System
 “Return to Life” operation in December 2000
 Change from a dormitory system to F type cell
 prevent recruitment
 prevent propaganda
 isolating the leadership
Camera systems
 Cells in the police centers are monitored for 24 hours.
 Recording system cannot be altered.
19

20. WHAT HAVE BEEN DONE?
STRUCTURAL ADJUSTMENTS
Establishment of the Financial Crimes Investigation
Board (MASAK) within the Ministry of Finance
The mission of MASAK is to
 make policies and to contribute making regulations,
 to collect information fast and reliably and to analyze them,
 to carry out examination and research,
 and to convey the acquired information and results to
 relevant authorities.
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21. WHAT HAVE BEEN DONE?
STRUCTURAL ADJUSTMENTS
Human Rights Training to Law Enforcement Personnel
During the course,
 awareness of the officers about human rights,
 international principles with respect to human rights
 specific actions leading to violations of human rights are
examined in order to avoid such violations.
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22. WHAT HAVE BEEN DONE?
LEGAL MEASURES
Anti-terrorism Law
 The first criterion concerns the modus operandi: the law
stipulates that terrorism involves the use of
coercion, violence, terror, intimidation or threats.
 The second criterion concerns the purposes for which the act is
perpetrated.
 The final criterion is that, in order to be considered a terrorist
act, the act must have been committed by a person or persons
belonging to an organization.
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23. WHAT HAVE BEEN DONE?
LEGAL MEASURES
The law on compensation for damage arising from terrorism or efforts
to counter terrorism
 Law No. 5233 on compensation for damage resulting from terrorism or
efforts to counter terrorism was enacted on 17 July 2004.
 The main aim of this law is to establish the rules and procedures
governing compensation for physical injury and material damage, and
losses arising from the impossibility of returning to villages destroyed by
terrorist activities or in the course of efforts to combat terrorism.
The Rehabilitation (repentance) Law
 The main aim of Law No. 4959 of 29 July 2003 on social rehabilitation is
to reintegrate members of terrorist organisations into Turkish society to
strengthen peace and solidarity.
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24. WHAT HAVE BEEN DONE?
LEGAL MEASURES
The Law on Prevention of Money Laundering
 The object of this law is to set forth the fundamentals that shall be
applied for the prevention of money laundering.
 Under this law: money-laundering offences are deemed to be
offences preparatory to terrorism against the state.
The Law on Witness Protection
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25. WHAT HAVE BEEN DONE?
PREVENTION OF RADICALISATION
Public Awareness, social projects, communication with
families…
 Projects
 Development of Prevention Strategies and Tactics in
Fighting against Radicalization in Terrorist Organization
 Developing Prevention Model in Countering Terrorism
 Training Activities
 Workshops
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26. PREVENTION ACTIVITIES
Activities involving
Awareness Programs Value Enlargement
Families
• High school and • Theater,
university level • Activities, involving
students prison system and • Football,
inmates. • Sight seeing
• School
administrators and • Activities to reach
out those who are in • Competitions
teachers
the terrorist
• Families organization
• Public officials in
different agencies

27. WHAT SHOULD BE DONE?
 No quick fix and need to know it will take
time.
 Value system enlargement policies.
 Target groups need to be identified and
contacted before terrorist organizations.
 A constructive relationship with the media.
 Suggestions need to fit in cultural structure.

28. WHAT SHOULD BE DONE?
 Increase in cultural awareness of public
officials especially by the concerned
agencies.
 Special attention to prisons and
incarceration system.
 Attention to social policies followed by
prison sentences.
 National and international cooperation.

29. What should be done?
 Social groups, movements, with moderate voice should be
reached out by the governments.
 A harmonized groups, composed of different religious,
cultural, ethnic background can be a constructive base for
efforts.
 Such NGOs should be more active.
 When we start with a wrong question of whether such NGOs
have affiliation with terrorism, then whatever the answer we
get will not lead us to the right direction.
 The question should be “how can the governments work
together with these NGOs?”
 Governments should take a step forward and empower civil
society to counter radicalization.

30. What should be done?
 Most of the time it is expected that the government
agency calls the first shot to initiate dialogue,
Governments should take a step forward and
empower civil society to counter radicalization,
 This is not an easy task since it involves enduring
effort to reach out every segment of the society.
 How the government agencies and NGOs can
realize „confidence building‟ is the heart of the
matter.
 If there is an issue of „trusting each other‟ then it
should be the government agency to be the first to
enlist some kind of dialogue or communication.

31. What should be done?
 Most of the time those in counterterrorism sector become „the
victims of their own presumptive concerns‟,
 These individuals become captives of their concerns, emanating
from
• lack of communication,
• lack of knowledge,
• miscommunication, or
• misguided perceptions.
• When it comes to enlisting channels of communication, same
dilemma applies to the NGOs or religious groups as well.
• To overcome such a dilemma security apparatus, agencies,
local governments, and NGOs should work together at the
organizational level as well as community level.

32. What should be done?
 Macro level policies and micro level policies are directly
related to each other.
 The success of macro level policies can be determined by
the micro level ones.
 Face-to-face interactions are as important as the large scale
projects.
 Both should go hand-to-hand.
 NGOs become focal point for reaching out the society.
 Public diplomacy: National and international level

33. CURRENT PROCESS
Democratization Solution Process
initiative
August 2009 2012-
•New laws • Professional units
•Socio-economic • Effective
investments, welfare • Efforts&discussions coordination • Dialogue through
policies • 12 September different channels
•Kurdish TV channels 2010 Referendum
• Operations • Additional legal
• Habur amendments.
Democratization incidents, Silvan • New constitution
Process attack, etc. Effective Security
1999-2009
Strategy 2011---
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34. PARADIGM SHIFT IN COUNTERING
TERRORISM
Democratization, freedom, and building a peaceful
society
Socio-economic, cultural projects and programs
Professionalization in countering the terrorists
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35. Communication
Society and speaking a
oriented common
approach language
Coordination
Service and
oriented information
sharing
Preventive
Transparenc
security
y and liability
strategy

36. CONCLUSION
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37. Thank you for your
participation
Süleyman ÖZEREN, Ph.D.
Director
International Center for Terrorism and Transnational Crime
Police Academy
Anittepe, Ankara, Turkey
(cell) + 90 505 655 4278
(office) + 90 312 462 9080
(fax) + 90 312 412 5296
(Email) sozeren@egm.gov.tr