ExtremismShadowy Turkish Ultra-Nationalist Group Under Scrutiny in Europe
A shadowy Turkish ultra-nationalist group is under increasing scrutiny in Europe after French officials banned them for violent actions and inciting hate speech in November. The Grey Wolves have been operating inside Turkey for decades and have been accused of politically motivated violence mainly against left-wing leaders, ethnic Kurds and Turkey’s Alevi sectarian minority.
A shadowy Turkish ultra-nationalist group is under increasing scrutiny in Europe after French officials banned them for violent actions and inciting hate speech in November.
The Grey Wolves have been operating inside Turkey for decades and have been accused of politically motivated violence mainly against left-wing leaders, ethnic Kurds and Turkey’s Alevi sectarian minority.
But there are signs the group is increasing its operations abroad.
In late October, French police in Decines-Charpieu near Lyon reported four people were injured in violent clashes between Turkish nationalists and Armenians protesting Azerbaijan over the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
Armenians have long said that mass killings of their ancestors in the Ottoman Empire in 1915 should be recognized as a genocide, which Turkey rejects. In November, an Armenian genocide memorial outside Lyon was defaced with yellow graffiti.
French Interior Minister Gerard Darmanin later announced via Twitter that the group had been banned in France, saying it “incites discrimination and hatred and is implicated in violent actions.”
The Turkish Foreign Ministry immediately responded, calling the move “disgraceful,” without actually acknowledging that the Grey Wolves existed.
Turkey’s Reaction
France’s ban comes as Turkish officials in recent weeks have strongly criticized the French government’s handling of Islamist extremism, with tensions leading to verbal insults between French President Emmanuel Macron and Turkish President Recep Tayipp Erdogan.
Responding to the ban, the Turkish Foreign Ministry accused the French government of overreacting.
“As a matter of fact, it is known that there is no such movement called Grey Wolves,” the Ministry said, while also denouncing France’s ban of the wolf salute — a hand gesture symbolizing a wolf that is often used by the group’s members.
The statement said such symbols were widely used in many countries without being designated illegal.
In March 2019, Austria also banned the wolf salute in the same list of signs belonging to organizations as the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and Hamas.
Grey Wolves in Turkey
The Grey Wolves is an informal name of the ultra-nationalist organization called Ülkü Ocakları (Idealist Hearths). As a political movement, it is mostly referred to as Ülkücü Hareket or the Idealist Movement.
In 1968, Idealist Hearths was founded as the militant youth wing of the far-right Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), currently a political ally of Erdogan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).
Over the years, the group was reportedly involved in politically motivated violence in Turkey, mainly against leftist political leaders and ethnic and religious minorities.
