Commonplace Extremism: A Look into Turkey’s ‘Grey Wolves’

On July 2nd, after scoring a goal in Turkey's football match against Austria during the recent European Championship, Turkish footballer Merih Demiral raised his hands, flashing the gesture of the Turkish 'Grey Wolves,' a pan-Turkic political-paramilitary movement that has been compared to death squads and terror organizations..The symbol, which Turkish fans flashed before, during, and after the match against Austria, once again brought the Turkish Grey Wolves movement and organization to the forefront..While many are unfamiliar with the Grey Wolves, the group has a long history of extremism, terrorism, and racism. Regarded as a neo-fascist organization, what is particularly shocking about the Grey Wolves is their notable levels of support..Throughout history, the Grey Wolves' name and symbol have continually popped up, most prominently in 1981 when a Turkish Grey Wolves member attempted to assassinate Pope John Paul II, with assistance from other Grey Wolves members and leadership..Deeper than this, the Grey Wolves have an extensive history of carrying out murders, actions against non-Turkish ethnic minorities, and connections with criminal networks. A number of these actions were undertaken in direct cooperation with the Turkish state, which the Grey Wolves have carried out a number of assassinations for..So let's take a look at one of Turkey's most controversial exports..A History of Violence.The Grey Wolves were founded by Alparslan Turkes in the late 1960s, just a few years after he had founded the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP). Originally, the Grey Wolves functioned as the MHP's paramilitary wing..The group quickly rose to prominence as it became one of the primary perpetrators of the violence that struck Turkey in the 1970s. An ultra-nationalist, Islamist, far-right group, the Grey Wolves began carrying out attacks against communist groups, leftist organizations, journalists, political dissidents, and ethnic/religious minorities, in particular Kurds, Armenians, and Alevis..Their effectiveness in carrying out targeted killings and their opposition to communist groups in the nation, which Turkey viewed as a Soviet threat, led to them becoming intertwined with the Turkish state. They began to work alongside Turkey's National Intelligence Organization (MIT), and its crimes oftentimes went unpunished by Turkish authorities, raising allegations of connections to the 'deep state.' In the rare instance a Grey Wolves member was actually arrested, they were generally promptly released..The Grey Wolves have historically been utilized by Turkey and the MIT in the wider Turkish-Kurdish conflict, where the Grey Wolves have killed several Kurdish leaders and clashed with Kurdish political organizations..This connection grew stronger simultaneous with an increase in violence in the late 1970s. The Grey Wolves began to receive weapons from Turkey's Counter-Guerrilla Organization, the Turkish branch of Operation Gladio, a US initiative originally intended to create an anti-communist stay-behind guerrilla force in target nations in the event of a Soviet occupation. The operation in Turkey quickly expanded to general anti-communist subversion..Some sources claim the Grey Wolves received direct support and even training from the CIA during this period..From 1976 to 1980, more than 5,000 people were killed in Turkey by political violence, a notable portion of which was at the hands of the Grey Wolves..The most significant massacre carried out by the Grey Wolves during this time occurred in 1978 in the city of Maras, when Turkish nationalist organizations, primarily the Grey Wolves, attacked the city for several days, killing 105-185 people and injuring 1,000-3,000. The attack, known as the Maras Massacre, targeted leftists and Alevi Kurds..Violence at the hands of the Grey Wolves in Turkey largely subsided in 1980, after the Turkish military under Chief of the General Staff General Kenan Evren led a coup against the government..Evren, promising to end the violence that plagued the 70s, moved to ban a wide array of political organizations, the MHP and the Grey Wolves included. The MHP/Grey Wolves leader, Alparslan Turkes, was also arrested after the coup. 220 members of the MHP and the Grey Wolves were arrested, and were tried for a collective 694 murders..During this time Turkish nationalism increased at the hands of the state, and ethnic persecution became more frequent. Evren moved to ban the Kurdish language..With the government now being hostile to the Grey Wolves, they switched their focus to international recruitment, and establishing chapters in other countries. Their prime target was Germany, who was and remains a host to the largest Turkish diaspora community in the world..Within Germany, the Grey Wolves established several affiliated organizations, the most important of which was the Germany Turkish Federation. Having been pushed out of Turkey, they moved to expand these groups. The Grey Wolves, and the Turkish Federation, were connected to the attempted assassination of Pope John Paul II on the 13th of May, 1981..The Pope was shot by Mehmet Ali Agca in St. Peter's Square in Vatican City, critically wounding him. The Pope survived, and Agca was arrested before being sentenced to life in prison by an Italian court..Agca denied his involvement with the Grey Wolves, as did the Grey Wolves themselves, but investigators found his membership with the organization..Agca had been imprisoned by Turkish authorities for the murder of journalist Abdi Ipekci in 1979, before he escaped prison with the direct assistance of Abdullah Catli, the then-leader of the Grey Wolves. Catli also supplied Agca with the handgun used in the shooting..Investigations further revealed that Musa Cedar Celebi, the leader of the Turkish Federation, was arrested for allegedly paying Agca three million German marks in order to assassinate the Pope, in addition to Celebi's connection to illegal smuggling networks. Celebi was arrested in connection to the assassination attempt, before being extradited to Italy in 1983..By 1983, groups in Germany affiliated with the Grey Wolves had grown to number several thousand, with the total Grey Wolves network numbering 18,000 across Europe. They focused on spreading pan-Turkish ideology..The Grey Wolves involvement in conflict soon returned in 1988 with the outbreak of the First Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) in 1988 amidst the wider prolonged fall of the Soviet Union. The Grey Wolves sent approximately 200 volunteers to fight in the conflict. In 1992 the Azeri Minister of the Interior established an Azeri chapter of the Grey Wolves..This chapter was short lived, however, when in 1995 a number of Azeri military officers, supported by Turkish Grey Wolves (including Abdullah Catli), were found to be preparing to carry out a coup against Azeri President Heydar Aliyev. Aliyev moved to ban the group after the coup attempt was foiled, although the Grey Wolves maintain a notable influence in Azerbaijan in the modern day..By this time, Turkey had lifted the ban on the MHP and the Grey Wolves, and the MHP was re-established officially in 1993..In 1997, with the death of Turkes, Devlet Bahceli took over the MHP, and thus the Grey Wolves. Initially Bahceli had pushed a more moderate path, claiming to have reformed the party from its violent past, however after becoming aligned with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's AK Party (AKP), Bahceli has continually pushed more conservative, nationalistic, and anti-minority policies. He maintains a close relationship with Erdogan, and has supported the AKP in a number of different endeavours and political crises..Erdogan, alongside the Turkish government itself, has been critiqued in the past for his connections to the group, with some, including German MP's, describing the Grey Wolves as "Erdogan's extended arm" in Europe and abroad..The Grey Wolves in Modernity.In its inception, the Grey Wolves functioned as the armed wing for the MHP, an association that continues today with the Grey Wolves now operating as the MHP's youth movement..The MHP is a far-right, ultra-nationalist party within Turkey's ruling coalition. They are the fourth largest party within Turkey's Grand National Assembly, holding 50 out of 600 seats in the assembly. Though the Grey Wolves technically have their own leader of the group, Ahmet Yigit Yildirim, many recognize Devlet Bahceli, the leader of the MHP, to be the true leader of the Grey Wolves..While primarily based in Turkey, the Grey Wolves hold a notable presence in Azerbaijan (despite them technically having been banned there in 1995), Germany, and Cyprus, though they have a small presence in many other countries..Internationally and within Turkey itself the group frequently participates in violent action against ethnic minorities and political opponents, in particular targeting Armenians, Kurds, and Alevis..In Turkey itself, the group witnesses a notable level of support, with approximately two million supporters, while the MHP is the fourth-largest party in government, having won 10 percent of the vote in Turkey's parliamentary elections in 2023..The group is regarded as a terrorist organization by Kazakhstan, and its symbols and infamous wolf hand sign are banned in Austria..The European Parliament in 2021 urged member states to regard the Grey Wolves as a terror organization (but did not do so itself), linking the Grey Wolves to terrorism in a report. In response, Turkey called the report "biased" and "unacceptable," claiming the "slanders" to be "fabricated by the anti-Turkey Armenian diaspora as well as PKK and FETO circles.".France moved to ban the organization in 2020 after a string of anti-Armenian violence and rhetoric that was organized by Grey Wolf-associated groups. The ban came after Turkish nationalists had led marches in Lyon, France, in which they stated they were "looking for" Armenians, and chanted "we are going to kill the Armenians.".An Armenian Genocide memorial close to the march was found to have been defaced, with graffiti reading "Grey Wolf" and "RTE" (in reference to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan)..After the ban in France, a similar effort was made in Germany to ban the group, but it was unsuccessful..The Grey Wolves and their affiliated organizations maintain a significant presence in Germany. Behind the Alternative fur Deutschland (AfD), a major German political party, the Grey Wolves are the second largest far-right organization in the nation. Numbering approximately 18,500-20,000 members, the Grey Wolves are larger than Germany's modern neo-nazi movements, which only number about 6,000..Their significant presence and reasonably large popularity has made banning them complicated. Further, for some parties it is not politically viable..As mentioned, Germany is host to the world's largest Turkish diaspora, at above three million people. Turks are also Germany's largest ethnic minority. This makes them a significant voting bloc, something that Germany's Christian Democratic Union (CDU) Party has capitalized upon..The CDU has formed a number of connections with the Grey Wolves in an effort to increase their support amongst Germany's Turkish community. In 2020, CDU politician Sevket Adci was accused of being a member of the Grey Wolves..Continual efforts from the CDU to avoid a ban have made the efforts to instate one difficult..The largest Grey Wolves-associated organization in Germany remains the Germany Turkish Federation, or the Federation of Turkish Democratic Idealist Associations in Germany, the same organization that was connected to the assassination attempt on Pope John Paul II..Though the organization was technically banned in Azerbaijan in 1995, they also maintain a significant influence there, so much so that the Grey Wolves symbol frequently appears in Azeri nationalist movements and protests and has been flashed by Azeri military officials on numerous occasions..Further, Erdogan and Azeri President Ilham Aliyev reportedly established together, at the insistence of Bahceli, a school named after the Grey Wolves in the city of Shushi, which lies in the disputed region of Artsakh. Azerbaijan seized the city during the 2020 44-Day War, or the Second Artsakh/Nagorno-Karabakh War..It is unclear if the school has finished construction since being announced in 2021..The Grey Wolves hand sign also appeared quite frequently among Azeri self-proclaimed "eco-activists" who began the blockade of Artsakh in December of 2022..The "eco-activists" held their protest on the Lachin Corridor, the only road that connected Armenia with the self-proclaimed Republic of Artsakh. Artsakh was dependent upon Armenia, and thus the road, for essential supplies such as food and medicine..The protestors claimed to be protesting what they said was an illegal and environmentally damaging mining project being undertaken within Artsakh, despite assurances from environmental authorities that the project would not be damaging. However, a number of the protestors were found to hold connections with the Azeri military and state, and Azerbaijan was accused of orchestrating the protest and blockade..Later, the protestors were replaced by an Azeri military checkpoint that maintained the blockade..The Grey Wolves have also been linked to a 2015 bombing in Bangkok, Thailand. Thai authorities blamed the Grey Wolves for the bombing, which killed 20 people, claiming the attack was carried out in retaliation for Thailand's decision to deport a number of Chinese Uyghur terror suspects back to China, instead of to Turkey..Thai authorities carried out a series of arrests in relation to the bombing, and issued arrest warrants for an individual that was living in Turkey..In Thailand, Thai police arrested Adem Karadag, a suspected Turkish national. Karadag was not suspected to be the bomber, but to have been involved in the plot. Karadag was arrested in his apartment with bomb making materials, a fake Turkish passport, 11 other Turkish passports, and an additional over 200 passports of varying nationalities..The Grey Wolves have established small but notable connections with independence movements in China's Xinjiang province, where the Uyghurs primarily reside. The Uyghurs are a Turkic people, making them a part of the Grey Wolves pan-Turkic goals..Officially, the Grey Wolves is not the groups' technical name. They are officially called the Idealist Hearths. Grey Wolves refers to the name of their death squads that existed during the 70's. Though it is not their official name, the wolf salute is still used by the group and wolf symbology is used extensively as well, including in the group's official logo and flag..The name Grey Wolves originates from a Turkish Bozkurt legend, in which a mother wolf protected the original Turkic settlers that arrived in Anatolia from Central Asia..The Mafia, Politics, and the Wolves.In addition to their involvement in terrorist acts, the Grey Wolves, their leadership, and even the MHP, have been linked to the international drug trade, arms smuggling, and the Turkish Mafia..The link between smuggling and organized crime networks and the Grey Wolves has been around since their inception, with Turkes himself having been involved in the network. Turkes, according to the US State Department, was involved in moving heroin from Turkey into Western Europe. Much of this trafficking takes place through Italy after it is transited from Turkey..Further, the Grey Wolves' criminalistic activities have occurred, in the past and present, with the blessing and assistance of the Turkish state. In the modern day, they benefit from their connection with the MHP in Turkey and the CDU in Germany, which allows them greater leeway than normal..In 2018 Osmanen Germania BC, a Turkish nationalist biker gang in Germany, was banned by Germany after a number of its members faced criminal charges, including murder, drug trafficking, prostitution, and more..The Grey Wolves, and their affiliated organizations in Germany, have not been cracked down upon in their trafficking networks..One of the greatest sources of evidence for the linking of the Turkish state and the Grey Wolves criminalistic activities came in 1996, and in 1998..In 1996 Abdullah Catli, the former leader of the Grey Wolves, was killed in a car crash alongside his girlfriend, and a Turkish high-ranking police official. At the time, Catli had been wanted for murder and drug trafficking. A Kurdish warlord was also in the vehicle, but survived the crash..Amidst the wreckage of the vehicle was found several handguns, silencers, a government-approved weapons permit, various narcotics, six different ID cards of Catli's, each of which had a different name, as well as diplomatic credentials that were directly issued by Turkish authorities..In 1998 a Turkish government document revealed that the Turkish state had an extensive relationship with Catli. Beyond being well aware of his criminal connections, the Turkish government hired Catli as a contract killer on numerous occasions..The Wolves Ideology.Alparslan Turkes, the founder of the MHP and the Grey Wolves, drew great inspiration from Turanism, and the writings of Nihat Atsiz..Turanism believes in the superiority of the Turkic people, who, according to Turkes, span from "Turkmen, China's Uyghurs, Russia's Tatars, Azeris, Kazakhs and others." Turkes' ideology puts forward a pan-Turkic identity and the idea of a "pure Turk," and advocates for the establishment of a unified Turkic empire, headed by Turkey..Separate from Atsiz, however, was Turkes' ascription to Islamism, who made Islam core to the Grey Wolves ideology. These two aspects are well evidenced in one of the Grey Wolves mottos:."Your doctor will be a Turk, and your medicine will be Islam." -A motto of the Grey Wolves.With their belief of racial superiority, Turkes and the Grey Wolves have declared opposition to the presence of Kurds within Turkey. As such, the Grey Wolves regularly clash with and attack Kurds in Kurdish regions of Turkey. They have additionally declared opposition to Armenians, Alevis, Greeks, Arabs, Jews, and Christians..The Grey Wolves have been continually described as neo-fascist in their political leanings, and have declared ultimate opposition to communism, believing it to be a threat to the Turkish nation. This was particularly prevalent during the 1970s, when the group frequently attacked and killed leftist leaders and unionists..The Grey Wolves.Merih Demiral, the Turkish football player who flashed the Grey Wolves symbol during Turkey's game against Austria on July 2nd, was suspended for two games by the UEFA. Beyond this, however, Germany summoned the Turkish ambassador over the issue, who was asked to "explain the gesture" and "take measures to prevent its future use.".In response to the summons, and the UEFA's investigation into Demiral—which ended with his temporary suspension—the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that "the 'grey wolf' sign is also not a banned symbol in Germany. Under these circumstances, the reactions shown by the German authorities toward Mr. Demiral themselves can be considered xenophobic.".This reaction is not uncommon for the Turkish government to take when action is taken against the Grey Wolves. The Turkish government's defense of the group demonstrates its continued alignment with the Grey Wolves, an alignment that is only expanding with time..The Grey Wolves membership and support is also continuing to expand, highlighting a significant issue for Europe, in particular Germany, if no action is taken to crack down on the group's extremism.