SEMDINLI

   This is a small city in the extreme southeastern Turkish province of Hakkari. On 9 November 2005, it became an excellent example of the Deep State when a bookstore owned by a former member of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) was bombed, killing one and wounding another. Although the bombing was made to look like the work of the PKK, it soon became clear that it was actually a provocation by JITEM, the Gendarmerie Intelligence and Counterterrorist Service.

   The bombers were caught by bystanders and proved to be members of a paramilitary antiterror intelligence squad. Yasar Buyukanit, the Turkish Land Forces commander and subsequently chief of staff, notoriously declared that those apprehended were "good guys" and rejected any official connection. A thorough investigation, however, was blocked by the Turkish military, and the public prosecutor was summarily sacked when he tried to pursue the case.