Gray wolves

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The wolf head flag is used by the gray wolves and other Pan-Turkist groups.
The " wolf salute " of the gray wolves. This hand sign also has many other meanings.
The symbols of the gray wolves on a car in Munich, 2019

Gray wolves ( Turkish Bozkurtlar or Bozkurtçular ) is the name for Turkish right-wing extremists such as members of the Nationalist Movement Party ( MHP ) or the Party of Great Unity (BBP). You have committed numerous acts of violence and murders in the past, and especially in the 1970s. They describe themselves as "idealists" (Ülkücüler) .

In Germany the party is represented by three umbrella organizations to which around 303 associations with more than 18,500 members belong nationwide. The oldest active organization in Germany is the Federation of Turkish Democratic Idealist Associations in Germany (ADÜTDF) or Turkish Federation (Türk Federasyon) , which is a founding member of the Turkish Confederation in Europe (Avrupa Türk Konfederasyon [!] ) . Furthermore, members of the Association of Turkish Cultural Associations in Europe (ATB) and the Union of Turkish-Islamic Cultural Associations in Europe (ATIB) are included in the movement. Even unorganized nationalists sometimes see themselves as “idealists”. The youth organization of the gray wolves is the "idealist youth" (Ülkücü Gençlik) .

After the presidential and parliamentary elections in Turkey in 2018, there is the impression that Turkey is trying to make the extremist group Gray Wolves acceptable in Germany. Cemal Çetin , chairman of the umbrella organization of gray wolves in Europe and newly elected member of the MHP, was a member of the Turkish delegation at the NATO summit in July 2018 and was photographed together with Chancellor Angela Merkel .

Derivation

The wolf is based on the she-wolf ( old Turkish Kök Böri , "blue or heavenly wolf") from Turkish mythology , which, according to the Ergenekon legend, brought the Gök Turks out of the legendary Ergenekon valley. After the defeat by the Chinese in the 8th century, they withdrew there. The wolf plays an important role in the history of the Turkish peoples. The she- wolf Asena is part of the historical legend of the Turkish origin, but originally possibly a Scythian-Iranian legend.

ideology

A spectator shows the "wolf salute", here for the parade on the Turkish National Day in Kyrenia (Girne), Northern Cyprus.

The ideology is Turkish right-wing extremism . The Gray Wolves see the Kurdish Workers' Party ( PKK) , which is referred to as “baby murderers” on relevant websites, and any Kurds who represent a “danger” for Turkey as enemy images . Jews , Christians , Armenians , Greeks , Communists , Freemasons , Israel or “ Zionists ”, the EU , the Vatican and the United States are also regarded as enemy images .

The " wolf greeting" is the gray wolf greeting that represents a wolf. According to the German protection of the constitution, Alparslan Türkeş is said to have answered the question about the meaning:

“Look, the little finger symbolizes the Turks, the index finger symbolizes Islam. The ring created when the wolf is greeting symbolizes the world. The point where the remaining three fingers connect is a stamp. That means: We will put the Turkish-Islamic stamp on the world. "

Necdet Sevinç , a pioneer of the MHP, characterized the Ülkücü in "Notes to an Idealist" ( Ülkücüye Notlar ) as follows:

"As a rule, an idealist is not a man of thought, but always a man of action [...] All ways of thinking, actions and opinions that deviate from the idealists' actions and thinking are invalid."

The goal of the Gray Wolves is a nation extending from the Balkans through Central Asia to the Chinese Autonomous Region of Xinjiang , which unites all Turkic peoples , this ideology is also known as Pan-Turkism . The center of the community of all Turkic peoples that it claims is a strong, independent and self-confident Turkey.

"In this striving for" Turan ", the Central Asian original home of the Turks, the pan- Turkish goals of the" idealists "are concretized, who want to see all of the Turkish-born peoples of Asia united in a Greater Turkish Empire."

Oath of idealists

In most “idealist associations” ( Ülkü ocakları ) an oath is kept, the “oath of the idealists” ( Ülkücü yemini ). The oath has patriotic components with religious elements and is a kind of oath of flag and oath of allegiance, which is taken when the national flag is presented at the same time. The full oath reads:

“By Allah , the Koran , the Fatherland, the flag is sworn. My martyrs, my front-line soldiers [veterans] should be safe. We, the idealistic Turkish youth, will continue our struggle against communism, capitalism, fascism and all kinds of imperialism. Our fight goes to the last man, to the last breath, to the last drop of blood. Our struggle continues until nationalist Turkey, until Turan is reached. We, the idealistic Turkish youth, will not shrink back, not waver [collapse], (we will achieve our goals), achieve, achieve [exist or succeed]. May Allah protect and exalt the Turks. Amen."

In this oath, in which an unbroken willingness to fight is expressed, one recognizes that one tries to promote the fight against a number of opposing, political or economic "systems" with concise formulations. However, it is not recognized that the enemy image elements "fascism" (anti-democratic, anti-liberal and anti-communist attitude) and "imperialism" (expansive striving for the unification of all Turkic peoples) are components of their own ideology.

The phrase “idealistic youth” also gives the young followers the conviction that they are committed to a positive cause. Particularly in cases in which the socialization of (especially male) Turkish youths in society does not succeed, there is a risk that membership in an “idealist association” will further increase the social deficits.

The “oath of the idealists” suggests that, from the point of view of the “idealists”, the fight against the cited images of the enemy must also take place outside Turkey. The “idealists” are equally consistent and often unscrupulous in fighting their “enemies”; These enemies include, above all, the ethnically non-Turkish population groups of Turkey who do not profess to be part of the Turkish nation or even want to harm it.

activities

Acts of violence

Logo of the MHP

In the 1960s, the movement under the leadership of Alparslan Türkeş concentrated on winning the youth over to the so-called "Panturanist ideology". The first command camps were founded, in which young people received military and political training.

According to estimates, the party trained up to 100,000 commando members in command camps. These commands were given the name Bozkurtçular ("Gray Wolves"). From 1968 the Gray Wolves began violent actions against the rising Turkish left. The "commandos" were responsible for most of the political murders at the end of the 1970s.

According to the Turkish authorities, the gray wolves committed a total of 694 murders between 1974 and 1980 alone.

The Kahramanmaraş pogrom in 1978 and the Çorum pogrom in 1980, in which hundreds of Turkish Alevis were killed, were also carried out by the Gray Wolves.

They also carried out the bombing of the Alfortville genocide memorial in 1984 together with the Turkish secret service .

Mehmet Ali Agca , who committed the assassination attempt on Pope John Paul II in 1981 , was a member of the Gray Wolves. Ağca also murdered Abdi İpekçi , editor-in-chief of Milliyet newspaper , who campaigned for peace with Greece . Another member is said to have carried out an attack on the women's shop TIO in Berlin-Kreuzberg in 1984 , in which the Turkish-Kurdish law student Seyran Ateş was critically injured.

The Chinese government also connects the gray wolves and the Turkish government with the rebel groups and terrorist organizations of the Uighurs in Xinjiang , who want to establish an Islamic "East Turkestan" and accuses them of falsifying history, propaganda and lies.

The 2015 Bangkok bombing was believed to have been committed by members of the Gray Wolves.

Political activity

In Turkey

In 1969 Alparslan Türkeş founded the MHP. The symbol of the party is a flag with three crescent moons, which are taken from the flag of the occupation troops of the Ottoman occupation army.

In 1975 the MHP became an alliance partner of the conservative Justice Party ( Adalet Partisi ), which was called the Democratic Party ( Democrat Parti ) until 1960 , under the then Prime Minister and later President Süleyman Demirel and thus ruling party. Alparslan Türkeş became Deputy Prime Minister and thus had state backing for actions by the Gray Wolves against the left opposition .

In the 1970s and 1980s, the Gray Wolves, as the paramilitary arm of the MHP, supported the Turkish government's military offensive against the Kurdish PKK. In 1980, like all other parties, the MHP was banned after the military coup at that time . A political ban, which was later lifted, was placed on the chairman. Still, many Gray Wolf supporters made careers in the military and other government agencies throughout the 1980s. The MHP ban was officially lifted at the end of the 1980s . During the late 1980s and 1990s, the party changed. Today it is predominantly religiously oriented and nationalistic.

According to statements by a migration researcher in the summer of 2016, it became known that the Gray Wolves showed solidarity with the supporters of the Islamic conservative ruling party AKP , even though they were previously enemies with them. They see a “perspective” in this alliance.

The ACP is for the parliamentary elections in 2018 an alliance with the MHP , one of the founder of the Gray Wolves, Alparslan Turkes received, founded party. The CHP is for the elections an alliance with the yi party entered into by the former MHP politician Meral Akşener is performed.

In Austria

In Linz there was criticism of the local mayor in 2014 and 2015, as he maintained contacts with the Avrasya association, which is attributable to the gray wolves . These contacts did not end when the Avrasya association spread threats against Kurds on social networks. In 2016, the association was excluded from the Linz integration advisory board after a functionary showed fascist gestures at the Mauthausen Memorial .

Since March 1, 2019, both signs of the gray wolves and the wolf salute have been banned in Austria. The Turkish Foreign Ministry protested against the ban and found it particularly scandalous that the Gray Wolves were included in a list with the PKK .

In Germany

In Germany, too, the Gray Wolves are trying hard to be active in political parties. The aim is to influence German policy towards Turkish migrants and Turkey in the interests of the Gray Wolves.

In 2011 there was a scandal in the Essen Integration Council when the “Alliance of the Essen Turks” took a stand against a resolution on the Gray Wolves. The Green Councilor Burak Çopur said he was stunned that the "Alliance of the Essen Turks" had voted unanimously against the resolution, including the Chairman of the Integration Council Muhammet Balaban and his deputy Mehmet Kekeç . "The voting behavior shows that the Integration Council has been infiltrated, it is a refuge for the gray wolves."

After some discussions, the social administration of the city ​​of Cologne agreed to carry out a study on the influence of right-wing extremist groups such as the Gray Wolves on young people of Turkish origin. Initially, the Chairman of the Integration Council in Cologne, Tayfun Keltek (SPD), did not want to speak out in favor of the study.

Zafer Toprak joined the CDU in 2001 and was a member of the integration council for the CDU in Hamm . When the CDU learned that he was an active gray wolf, he was expelled from the CDU in 2015.

Between July 25, 2014 and April 26, 2015, the Almanya Demokratik Ülkücü Türk Dernekleri Federasyonu (ADÜTÜF) 29 and the Avrupa Türk Konfederasyon (ATK) organized 2 election campaign events for the benefit of the MHP, the party of Turkish ultra-nationalists, which is close to the Gray Wolves.

Although the "Federation of Turkish Democratic Idealist Associations in Germany e. V. “(ADÜTF) publicly demonstrates behavior in accordance with the law, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, as a disseminator of right-wing extremist ideas , considers them dangerous because of their high number of members, since their view of the world violates the principles of the Basic Law and calls for violence, especially against Kurds, are spread in social networks. Its ideology also finds supporters among people of Turkish origin, beyond the Ülkücü movement, which is organized as an association, whereby - besides Kurds and Jews - Germany is also the focus of the public opinion. "The anti-Semitic stereotypes of the Turkish right-wing extremists range from traditional conspiracy theories - with Jews as the" sinister pullers "of international imperialism - to a religious-Islamic rejection of Jews as infidels or false believers," it continues. The Ülkücü movement, which is not organized as an umbrella organization, includes Turan e. V. "To find clear commitments to Turkish right-wing extremism".

According to the Federal Agency for Civic Education , the Gray Wolves are the largest right-wing extremist organization in Germany with more than 18,000 members.

In Switzerland

In Switzerland, the Gray Wolves were involved in overseeing the voting for the Turkish presidential and parliamentary elections in June 2018 at polling stations. They also put the ballot boxes on the tarmac at the airport.

Critical consideration

The group, which sees itself as "Turkish idealists", is under observation in Europe. The Office for the Protection of the Constitution of North Rhine-Westphalia accuses her of contributing “to the emergence of a parallel society in Europe” and sees her as “an obstacle to the integration of the Turkish population”.

In June 2009 Ali H. Yıldız , board member of the German-Turkish Forum (DTF), a sub-organization of the CDU, resigned from his position because the DTF did not distance itself clearly enough from the Gray Wolves. He explained: "It cannot be that we unite against Pro Cologne on the one hand and court the Turkish NPD through the CDU Cologne on the other ." Further cooperation with sympathizers of the Turkish right-wing extremists cannot be reconciled with his conscience . His Cologne party friend Kubilay Demirkaya described the Gray Wolves as: “ Anti-Semites , racist , right-wing extremist, nationalist, have various enemy images, including Jews, Americans, Europeans, Kurds and Israel. So it's a dangerous mixture that is spreading in Germany. "

A study by the CDU-affiliated Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung recommended in 2006 CDU politicians to weigh up “from a political strategic point of view” in individual cases “to what extent a targeted collaboration” with the Gray Wolves is possible. However, voices in the German-Turkish forum regularly demand that gray wolves have no place in a democratic party and should be excluded.

In an answer to a small question relating to the gray wolves of the Die Linke party , the federal government wrote :

"The ideology of the Ülkücü movement is based on an exaggeration of the Turkish ethnicity, language, culture and nation. Ethnic minorities in Turkey in particular are seen as a force that divides Turkey's unity and are therefore rejected. The ideology of the Ülkücü is largely based on enemy images and conspiracy theories The spectrum of “internal” and “external” enemies ranges from the Kurds, Greeks and Armenians to the Jews, from the Europeans to the Chinese to the USA and the Vatican. Depending on the current political situation, a particular enemy image becomes special This exaggeration of one's own ethnic group while simultaneously lowering other ethnic groups contradicts the free democratic basic order of the Federal Republic of Germany . "

Relatives

  • Ozan Arif (1949–2019), musician and poet
  • Nihal Atsız (1905–1975), author and pioneer of the Ülkücü movement
  • Abdullah Çatlı (1956–1996), member of a paramilitary organization of the gray wolves
  • Alparslan Türkeş (1917–1997), founder and party leader of the MHP until 1997
  • Devlet Bahçeli (* 1948), party leader of the MHP since 1997
  • Muhsin Yazıcıoğlu (1954–2009), was a deputy of the MHP and advisor to the chairman Alparslan Türkeş
  • Sedat Peker (* 1971), criminal, extremist and panturkist
  • Meral Akşener (* 1956), Minister of the Interior from 1996 to 1997, leader of the Iyi party
  • Haluk Kırcı (* 1958), murderer, writer
  • Alaattin Çakıcı (* 1953), mafia boss
  • Cemal Çetin , President of Avrupa Türk Konfederasyon and Member of the Turkish Parliament for the MHP

Others

In his thriller The Empire of the Wolves (2005), based on the novel by Jean-Christophe Grangé , the director Chris Nahon portrayed the rule structures of the Gray Wolves in Paris and Turkey very freely.

See also

literature

  • "The ideal Turk". The ultra-nationalism of the gray wolves in Germany. A handout for education, youth and social work, families and politics. Model project "Strengthening Democracy - Dealing with Islamism and Ultranationalism" of the ZDK Society Democratic Culture gGmbH . Authors: Claudia Dantschke (project leader). Office for Islamism and Ultranationalism of the ZDK gGmbH. ZDK Society for Democratic Culture, Berlin 2013, ISBN 978-3-9816079-0-1
  • Emre Arslan: The Myth of the Nation in the Transnational Space. Turkish gray wolves in Germany . VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, Wiesbaden 2009, ISBN 3-531-16866-5
  • Jean-Christophe Grangé: The Empire of Wolves . Bergisch Gladbach 2005, ISBN 3-404-15411-8
  • Fikret Aslan, Kemal Bozay: Gray wolves are howling again. Turkish fascists and their networking in the FRG . Münster 2000, ISBN 3-89771-004-8
  • Barbara Hoffmann, Michael Opperskalski , Erden Solmaz: Gray Wolves. Koran schools. Idealist associations. Turkish fascists in the Federal Republic . Cologne 1981, ISBN 3-7609-0648-6

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Political Terrorism , by Alex Peter Schmid, AJ Jongman, Michael Stohl, Transaction Publishers, 2005, p. 674.
  2. ^ The Nature of Fascism , by Roger Griffin, Routledge, 1993, p. 171.
  3. ↑ Leonard Weinberg, Ami Pedahzur, Arie Pearly: Political Parties and Terrorist Groups . Routledge, 2003, p. 45.
  4. ↑ a b Albert J. Jongman, Alex Peter Schmid, Political Terrorism: A New Guide to Actors, Authors, Concepts, Data Bases, Theories, & Literature . P. 674.
  5. ↑ Anna Feist, Herbert Klar, Steffen Judzikowski: Webstory "Graue Wölfe" , ZDF, accessed on November 29, 2016.
  6. ↑ https://www.zeit.de/politik/ausland/2018-07/extremismus-graue-woelfe-angela-merkel-tuerkei-treffen/komplettansicht
  7. ↑ Federal Ministry of the Interior (ed.): Verfassungsschutzbericht 2011 - preliminary draft . Berlin 2012, p. 309 ( online [PDF; 2.5 MB ; accessed on July 31, 2012]).
  8. ↑ Renate Lääts: Wolves and half moons: The symbolism of the "Ülkücü movement". November 17, 2015, accessed July 12, 2018 .
  9. ↑ Necdet Sevinç: Ülkücüye Notlar. Istanbul 1976, p. 28.
  10. ↑ Archive link ( Memento from February 12, 2013 in the web archive archive.today )
  11. ↑ Militaristic “idealist oath” at ADÜTDF event in the Stuttgart area ( Memento from February 12, 2013 in the web archive archive.today ). State Office for the Protection of the Constitution of Baden-Württemberg , July 2005 (PDF file; 375 kB).
  12. ^ Faruk Şen : Turkey. Country and people. Munich 1986, p. 110 ff.
  13. ↑ Wayback Machine. (PDF) November 6, 2014, accessed August 15, 2018 .
  14. ^ Turkey's mediator stance on the rocks over anti-Chinese protests ｜ WCT. October 19, 2015, accessed August 15, 2018 .
  15. ↑ US & TERRORISM IN XINJIANG | South Asia Analysis Group. November 6, 2014, accessed August 15, 2018 .
  16. ↑ Behind the China Riots - Oil, Terrorism & 'Gray Wolves' - NAM. November 6, 2014, accessed August 15, 2018 .
  17. ↑ Neues Deutschland : Migration researcher Faruk Sen: AKP supporters and gray wolves join forces in Germany from July 27, 2016 on Presseportal.de
  18. ↑ sz-online: Alliance against Erdogan . In: SZ-Online . ( sz-online.de [accessed on July 7, 2018]).
  19. ^ Turkish Association: Criticism of Red Friends of the Gray Wolves , Der Standard, October 30, 2014
  20. ^ Excitement about the SPÖ in Linz and "Graue Wölfe" , Der Standard, November 27, 2015
  21. ↑ "Avrasya" to Armenians: "Then it's your turn" , Der Standard, April 10, 2015
  22. ↑ Wolfsgruß in the former concentration camp: "Avrasya" excluded from the advisory board , Der Standard. March 22, 2016
  23. ↑ 58th Ordinance of the Federal Minister of the Interior, with which the Symbol-Designation Ordinance is changed , February 27, 2019, Republic of Austria; Appendix with the newly prohibited symbols: PDF
  24. ↑ Turkey to Austria: Ban on the symbol of the gray wolves "scandalous" , DerStandard, February 15, 2019
  25. ↑ Integration Council is a refuge for the gray wolves . derwesten.de.
  26. ↑ Study planned on gray wolves . ksta.de, accessed on April 9, 2013.
  27. ↑ CDU excludes "gray wolf" from the party . In: www.wa.de . January 16, 2017 ( wa.de [accessed July 25, 2018]).
  28. ↑ Printed matter 18/5466. (PDF) Bundestag, July 3, 2015, SS 6–7 , accessed on July 21, 2018 .
  29. ^ "Ülkücü" movement - Turkish right-wing extremism . In: Federal Ministry of the Interior, for Building and Home Affairs (Ed.): Verfassungsschutz Report 2017 , status: July 2018, pp. 243–248 (PDF; 4.45 MB).
  30. ↑ Gray Wolves - the largest right-wing extremist organization in Germany . Federal Agency for Civic Education, Germany. Retrieved January 26, 2020.
  31. ^ Right-wing extremist Basler Turks monitored voting - TagesWoche . In: TagesWoche . July 4, 2018 ( tageswoche.ch [accessed on July 27, 2018]).
  32. ↑ Turkish nationalism: 'Gray Wolves' and 'Ülkücü' (idealist) movement ( memento of November 30, 2004 in the Internet Archive ). Report by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution of North Rhine-Westphalia , October 2004 (PDF file; 294 kB).
  33. ^ Helmut Frangenberg: Turkish right-wing extremists. “Gray wolves” in the Cologne CDU ( memento from June 7, 2009 in the Internet Archive ). In: Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger , June 4, 2009. Accessed November 27, 2010.
  34. ^ Spiegel TV: Die Grau Wölfe, November 18, 2007, RTL
  35. ↑ Turkish right-wing extremists sneak into the CDU .
  36. ↑ Study does not rule out cooperation with gray wolves
  37. ↑ NRW-CDU tolerates radical Turks in its ranks .
  38. ↑ Federal Government: Printed matter 18/5466. (PDF) Bundestag, July 3, 2015, SS 4 , accessed on July 21, 2018 .
  39. ↑ Portrait - The she-wolf. Retrieved July 7, 2018 .
  40. ↑ - Who will disempower Erdoğan? The CHP, HDP or the "mother of the gray wolves"? Retrieved July 7, 2018 .
  41. ↑ "Then I fired three bullets each in the head" . In: az Solothurn newspaper . ( solothurnerzeitung.ch [accessed on July 10, 2018]).
  42. ^ Frankfurter Rundschau: Turkey: The return of the mafia in Turkish politics . In: Frankfurter Rundschau . ( fr.de [accessed on July 10, 2018]).
  43. ↑ Kurdistan24: Far-right ally of Turkish President visits convicted mafia boss who threatened Demirtas . In: Kurdistan24 . ( kurdistan24.net [accessed July 10, 2018]).
  44. ↑ Turkish extremism: Merkel's handshake with the gray wolf . In: ZEIT ONLINE . ( zeit.de [accessed on July 21, 2018]).