Page 176 - Encyclopedia Of Terrorism

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152———Grenzschutzgruppe 9

The structure of the IBDA-C allows members to Zubaida, Sami. “Turkish Islam and National Identity.”
organize independently. Anyone familiar with and Middle East Report, April-June 1996, 11.
subscribing to the beliefs of the IBDA-C can form a
group and begin to function autonomously, usually in
groups of four or five that act as their own front, or
teams, within the organization. Some past IBDA-C GRENZSCHUTZGRUPPE 9
fronts have been called Ultra Force, Altinordu,
Lazistan, and Union of Revolutionist Sufis. Grenzschutzgruppe 9 (GSG-9) is an elite German
Since the early 1990s, the group has claimed counterterrorist unit that was formed after the
responsibility for attacks on left-wing, Western, and massacre at the 1972 Munich Olympics. All GSG-9
secular targets; it published a list of Jewish targets, members undergo advanced counterterrorism training
murdered a famous film critic, and sent a dire warning in areas such as building assault, hand-to-hand com-
to a Turkish TV journalist whom it accused of being bat, marksmanship, and explosives. GSG-9’s 1977
“anti-Islam.” They have also targeted banks and assault on a hijacked Lufthansa plane in Mogadishu,
taverns, even brothels and discotheques. Somalia, brought the group to world attention.
The number of IBDA-C members is unknown, After the defeat of the Nazi regime in World War II,
but the IBDA-C name is well known throughout the West German government was reorganized. West
Turkey. While many have been imprisoned, the Germany had an army, but no national police force or
group remains active in publication and has many intelligence agency. The national government had
bookstores, Web sites, and print houses where meet- very little power to regulate the internal affairs of its
ings are held. states. In 1972, when the city of Munich hosted the
The front is suspected of the 1997 bombing of the Olympics, security for the games was the responsibil-
Ecumenical Patriarchate Cathedral in Istanbul—an act ity of the state of Bavaria (of which Munich was the
strongly condemned by the United States. Its most capital). That security was deliberately relaxed, in an
notable attack, though, was the 1999 pipe bomb assas- effort to prove to the world that Germany had moved
sination of Ahmet Taner Kislali, a former minister, beyond its fascist, militaristic past.
professor, respected newspaper columnist—and firm On September 5, 1972, a team of Palestinian ter-
critic of Islamic fundamentalism. rorists from the Black September group entered the
Turkish authorities have continued to arrest and try Olympic Village, killing two members of the Israeli
IBDA-C members and have thus reduced their threat. Olympic team and taking nine others hostage. After
According to Turkish officials, 20 separate operations hours of tense negotiations televised worldwide, the
were staged against IBDA-C in 1998 and 1999 lead- Munich police made a last desperate attempt to free
ing to the capture of some 170 suspects and clarifi- the hostages. The operation was a disaster, and all
cation of 35 acts of terror. The group still manages nine Israelis were killed.
to make small attacks, however. To prevent another such catastrophe, GSG-9 was
created. GSG-9 was a part of the Bundesgrenzschutz,
or border guard, one of the few German security agen-
Further Reading
cies with national authority. Headed by Ulrich
Kurkucu, Ertugrul. “The Crisis of the Turkish State.” Wegener, who handpicked the initial 200 border
Middle East Report, April-June 1996, 2-7. guards, the group had three combat teams of 30 men,
Lapidot, Anat. “Islamic Activism in Turkey Since the 1980 with additional members trained in logistics, support,
Military Takeover.” Terrorism and Political Violence, communications, and intelligence. In later years, the
Vol. 3, 1997, 64 [Special Issue, “Religious Radicalism
GSG was expanded and divided into three divisions:
in the Greater Middle East,” edited by Bruce Maddy-
GSG-9/1, the ground forces; GSG-9/2, trained for mari-
Weitzman and Efraim Inbar, 62-74].
time operations; and GSG-9/3, an aerial assault team.
Toprak, Binnaz. “Religion as State Ideology in a Secular
On October 13, 1977, a team of Palestinian ter-
Setting: The Turkish-Islamic Synthesis.” In Aspects
rorists hijacked a Lufthansa flight from Majorca,
of Religion in Secular Turkey. Edited by Malcolm
Wagstaff. Occasional Paper Series No. 40. Durham, eventually diverting it to Mogadishu, Somalia. They
UK: University of Durham, Center for Middle Eastern demanded the release of 13 terrorists, including the
and Islamic Studies, 1990, 10. leaders of the West German Baader-Meinhof Gang, in