With the consent of the National Defense Supreme Council (), brigadier general Daniş Karabelen founded the Tactical Mobilization Group (, or STK) on 27 September 1952. Karabelen was one of sixteen soldiers (including Turgut Sunalp, Ahmet Yıldız, Alparslan Türkeş, Suphi Karaman, and Fikret Ateşdağlı) who had been sent to the United States in 1948 for training in special warfare. These people were to form the core of the Special Warfare Department (, or ÖHD). It has been said that the training also entailed an element of CIA recruitment.