ABSTRACT
The “deep state”, both as a reality and as a discourse, was an original contribution by Turkey to the global conspiracy theory (CT) community and political intrigue aficionados. The term, in fact, metamorphosed from the hideous term counterguerrilla (Kontrgerilla) that disseminated among the leftist activists arrested during the martial law (1971–1973) as the nefarious authority that runs the brutal crackdown and interrogations. 1 Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) was also accused as behind the counterguerrilla that professionally runs tortures as an effective counterinsurgency technique. 2 İlhan Selçuk (aforementioned in Chapter 1) is renowned for hearing the notorious word counterguerrilla in person when he was brought to a mansion in Istanbul owned by the Turkish intelligence and used for interrogation. As he recalled in his memoirs, blindfolded, he was welcomed by his interrogators (and to-be-torturers):
Mr. İlhan Selçuk, now you are in front of the Counter-guerilla organization run by the General Staff. You are our captive. There is no Constitution here. We are authorized to do anything to you… . I am a colonel. My colleague is also a colonel. We will interrogate you. Don’t dare to resist. We have handled thousands just like you. 3
