Tim Drayton wrote:I have found an English translation of part of the interview given to Milliyet by Bülent Ecevit on November 13, 1990, in which he spoke of how he first learned of the existence of the Special War Department at a time when he was prime-minister:
http://www.info-turk.be/169.E.htm
"In 1974, just before the military operation in Cyprus, I was informed for the first time about the existence of a department in charge of special warfare within the headquarters of the Turkish general staff. They were asking for money. When I inquired who had funded the department until then I was told that it was financed by the United States," said Ecevit.
"When I insisted, a secret briefing on the functioning of this organization was given to me and the then defense minister Hasan Esat Isik. We were told the Special Warfare Department was an organization composed of 'volunteer patriots.' They said its headquarters was located in the same building as the US military aid delegation to Turkey. I was told also that the organization had secret weapons depots. Its members were trained in special warfare techniques. If and when the country was invaded by an aggressor the members of this clandestine organization were supposed to launch counter-guerrilla warfare against the invaders. I was told the organization was made up of mainly young people but that when they got elder they might eventually become politicians.
"This was a secret weapon. I thought we should act swiftly and put measures into force against the organization's use. But that was at the time of the Cyprus operation. Nothing was done."
Ecevit as a leftist might not have known abt this organization until he asked abt it...
Allied Coordination Committee
Secret right-wing paramilitary network in Western Europe, set up in the 1950s to arm guerrillas chosen from the civilian population in the event of Soviet invasion or communist takeover. Initiated and partly funded by the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), it was linked to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and operated by the secret services and armed forces of member countries. Its past or present existence was officially acknowledged in 1990 by Belgium, France, (West) Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, and Portugal, who each said that the branches had been or would be closed down.
The network was reported to have links with right-wing extremist groups – at least in Belgium and Italy. Switzerland officially stated in 1990 that its secret resistance army, P-26, had no links with the Allied Coordination Committee, although it had cooperated with British secret services.
http://encyclopedia.farlex.com/Allied+C ... +Committee
As for it's links with TMT and activities in Cyprus; apart from their merciless political stance against leftists; in general, i see nothing wrong with organizing TCs under TMT against EOKA and struggling for TC/Turkish interests in Cyprus.
Some may claim they were struggling for the interests of US or other allies... It is partly true because they were in the same alliance and thus also serving the interests of US and all others in the same alliance.
If so, wasn't Greece in the same alliance? She was in the same alliance but there were interest conflicts between GCs/Greeks and TCs/Turks over Cyprus.
Had there been no interest conflicts between 2 nations; there would still have been interest conflicts between leftists and rightists.
What abt the otherwise?
Had there been no interest conflicts between 2 ideological groups would there have been interest conflicts between 2 nations and 2 ethnic communities in Cyprus?
Most probablyi Yes...