Grey Wolves

The Idealist Youth (Turkish: Ülkücü Gençlik), commonly known as Grey Wolves (Turkish: Bozkurtlar), is an ultra-nationalist[1] neo-fascist[2][3][4][5][6][7][8] youth organization. It is accused of terrorism.[2][4][5] According to Turkish authorities, the organization carried out 694 murders between 1974–1980.[9]

Contents

Name

They are named after Asena, a female wolf in mythology associated with Turkic ethnic origins. Their formal name in Turkish is ülkücüler (idealists) and Ülkücü Hareket (The Idealist Movement), inspired from 19th century Turkish writer Ziya Gökalp later developed by 20th century writer Nihal Atsız Ülkü Ocakları (Forges of Ideal), the proper platform of Grey Wolves, denies any "direct" links with MHP and presents itself as an independent youth organization. Their female supporters are called Asena.

History

Foundation and ideology

The Grey Wolves were founded as the youth organization of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) created by Alparslan Türkeş in 1969. A significant pillar the MHP's ideology is the dream of creating the Turan, the "Great Turkish Empire", including all Turkic peoples mainly in the successor Central Asian countries of the former Soviet Union as well as the Caucasus and the Uygurs' homeland of East Turkestan in the Xinjiang province of Northwestern China.

The Grey Wolves also rally around Pan-Turkic Causes including: the economic isolation and territorial integrity of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus; the Armenian military occupation of Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding areas, and the subsequent displacement of Azeri civilians; the assimilation campaigns and suppression of the Iraqi Turkmens in Kirkuk and adjacent regions in Northern Iraq by the Kurdistan Regional Government; and the suppression of Uygur culture and Chinese colonization of Eastern Turkestan. The Grey Wolves are also known to be supporters of Azeri activists that campaign for greater cultural rights in Iran.

They have also been known to support non-Turkic people whom they consider to have kinship with Turkish people. It is for this reason that Grey Wolves have supported the Chechen Independence Struggle, the KLA-led Albanian movement in Kosovo, and the Bosniaks' resistance in the Bosnian War.

Role in 1980 military coup

At the time of the military coup of September 12, 1980, led by general Kenan Evren (who was also the leader of Counter-Guerrilla)[10] there were some 1,700 Grey Wolves organizations, with about 200,000 registered members and a million sympathisers. Grey Wolves, also known as Commandos conducted assassinations against left-wing intellectuals and academics in Turkey. The torturing and killing of many left-wing partisans and sympathisers are among their crimes. Grey Wolves, besides assassinations and bombings, also participated in massacres of minority community members in Çorum and in Maraş. However, after being useful for Kenan Evren's strategy of tension, the leader of the Counter-Guerrilla turned president outlawed the MHP and the Grey Wolves. Colonel Türkeş and other Grey Wolves were arrested. In its indictment of the MHP in May 1981, the Turkish military government charged 220 members of the MHP and its affiliates for 694 murders.[11] However, imprisoned Grey Wolves members were offered amnesty if they accepted to fight the Kurdish separatism and the PKK,[12] and ASALA ("Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia").

The Grey Wolves then lost many of its core cadres to the neo-liberal Motherland Party or various vestiges of the Islamist movement. In 1983, the Nationalist Task Party ("Milliyetçi Çalışma Partisi", MÇP) was founded as a successor to the MHP; as of 1992 it is again known as the MHP.

Role in Kurdish affairs

The MHP is strongly opposed to Kurdish separatists, namely the PKK.

The paramilitary wing of the Grey Wolves have been utilized by the Turkish intelligence services to assassinate PKK leaders.[13] The fact that Counter-Guerrilla had engaged in torture was confirmed by Talat Turhan, a former Turkish colonel.[10]

Activities to date

The Grey Wolves have also raised funds for Chechen guerrilla separatists, whom they consider their brothers.[15]

Links to Operation Gladio

Main article: Counter-Guerrilla

The Grey Wolves were the most visible force at the command of the Counter-Guerrilla; the Turkish branch of Operation Gladio.[22] By using such paramilitary structures, the leaders were able to maintain a facade of plausible deniability.[9]

Numerous sources show that the MHP and the Grey Wolves had ties to the Turkish mafia, to the Turkish intelligence services as well as to the CIA and other intelligence agencies. Former military public attorney and member of the Turkish Supreme Court, Emin Değer, has established that the Grey Wolves collaborated with the counter-insurgency governmental forces, as well as the close ties between these state security forces and the CIA.[23][24][25] Indeed, Martin A. Lee also wrote that the para-military wing of the Grey Wolves were covertly supported by the CIA, which worked with the Gladio network,[13] while a December 5, 1990 article by the Swiss Neue Zürcher Zeitung stated that the Counter-Guerrilla had their headquarters in the building of the US DIA military secret service.[26] Le Monde diplomatique wrote that "the CIA used proponents of the Greater Turkey to stir up anti-sovietic passions at the heart of Turkish Muslim minorities in the Soviet Union".[23] Thus, in 1992, colonel Türkes went to newly-independent Azerbaijan, where he was acclaimed as a hero. He supported Grey Wolves sympathiser Abulfaz Elchibey's candidacy to the presidency. Once elected, Elchibey chose as ministry of Interior İsgandar Hamidov, a member of the Grey Wolves who plead for the creation of a Greater Turkey which would include northern Iran and extend itself to Siberia, Central Asia, Afghanistan, Pakistan and north western China (Uighuristan). Isgandar Hamidov resigned in April 1993 after having threatened Armenia with a nuclear strike.[23]

According to Daniele Ganser, a researcher at the ETH Zürich University, the founder of the Grey Wolves, Alparslan Türkeş was a member of Counter-Guerrilla, the Turkish branch of Gladio, a stay-behind NATO anti-communist paramilitary organization which was supposed to prepare networks for guerrilla warfare in case of a Soviet invasion.[10] Le Monde diplomatique confirms that the Grey Wolves were infiltrated and manipulated by Gladio, and that important Grey Wolves member Abdullah Çatlı had worked with Gladio. According to the same article, Abdullah Çatlı met with Italian international terrorist Stefano Delle Chiaie, who, aside from taking part in Italy' strategy of tension, also maintained links with Pinochet's DINA and participated in the Argentinian dirty war.[27] However, it is alleged that in Italy and Turkey, Gladio supported a strategy of tension (Italian: strategia della tensione) which used false flag terrorist attacks in order to discredit the communist movement.[28][29]

Grey Wolves outside of Turkey

Azerbaijan

The Grey Wolves have provided support to Azeri forces fighting Armenians during the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict,[30] and still operate in Azerbaijan, although their name has been changed to the Azerbaijan National Democrat Party.[31][32]

Belgium

There had already been attempts of infiltration of local politics by Grey Wolves in 2000, but during the municipal elections of 2006 two candidacies of leaders of Idealist clubs were put under the attention of the main media, Fuat Korkmazer on the Flemish Christian Democrats list in Ghent and Murat Denizli on the Francophone Socialist Party list in Schaerbeek, a commune in the Brussels Region. In both cases, political observers considered it was an attempt by Belgian parties to attract far right Turkish voters in communes where there are numerous Turks, with or without the Belgian citizenship. Korkmazer got a very low number of votes, Denizli was elected but had to resign because it was discovered he had a false address and lived in another commune.[33][34][35]

Cyprus

In 1996, the Grey Wolves went to Cyprus in support of Turkish Cypriot protesters. Consequently, they were involved in attacks on Greek Cypriot properties and Greek Cypriot civilians.[36][37]

Germany

The first "Idealist club" was established on 18 June 1978 in Frankfurt as "Federation of Associations of Turkish Democrat Idealists in Europe" (Avrupa Demokratik Ülkücü Türk Dernekleri Federasyonu).[38]

Italy

According to investigative reporter Lucy Komisar, the 1981 attempt on John Paul II's life, by Grey Wolves member Mehmet Ali Ağca, may have been related to Gladio. Ali Ağca would in this case have been manipulated by NATO's clandestine structure, in an attempt to fuel Italy's strategy of tension, which ended with the 1980 Bologna massacre. Komissar underlines the fact that Ali Ağca had worked with Abdullah Çatlı in the January 1, 1979 murder of Abdi İpekçi, the editor of left-wing newspaper Milliyet. "Çatlı then reportedly helped organize Ağca's escape from an Istanbul military prison, and some have suggested Çatlı was even involved in the Pope's assassination attempt", reports Lucy Komisar. Also adding, that at the scene of the Mercedes-Benz crash where Çatlı died, he was found with a passport under the name of "Mehmet Özbay" - an alias also used by Mehmet Ali Ağca.[39]

The Netherlands

Grey Wolves activists infiltrated with varying successes the local politics of several Dutch municipalities. [40]

Members

Assassinations

Literature

See also

References

  1. ^ " Update to the UNHCR CDR Background Paper on Refugees and Asylum Seekers from Turkey" - UNHCR
  2. ^ a b Political Terrorism, by Alex Peter Schmid, A. J. Jongman, Michael Stohl, Transaction Publishers, 2005p. 674
  3. ^ Annual of Power and Conflict, by Institute for the Study of Conflict, National Strategy Information Center, 1982, p. 148
  4. ^ a b The Nature of Fascism, by Roger Griffin, Routledge, 1993, p. 171
  5. ^ a b Political Parties and Terrorist Groups, by Leonard Weinberg, Ami Pedahzur, Arie Perliger, Routledge, 2003, p. 45
  6. ^ The Inner Sea: The Mediterranean and Its People, by Robert Fox, 1991, p. 260
  7. ^ http://www.consortiumnews.com/archive/story33.html
  8. ^ [1]
  9. ^ a b Albert J. Jongman, Alex Peter Schmid, Political Terrorism: A New Guide to Actors, Authors, Concepts, Data Bases, Theories, & Literature, pp. 674
  10. ^ a b c Daniele Ganser (2005). NATO's Secret Armies, Operation Gladio and Terrorism in Western Europe. London: Franck Cass. ISBN 0714685003. 
  11. ^ Searchlight (magazine), No.47 (May 1979), pg. 6. Quoted by Edward Herman and Frank Brodhead in The Rise and Fall of the Bulgarian Connection. (New York: Sheridan Square, 1986), pg. 50.
  12. ^ Former Grey Wolves member İbrahim Çiftçi speaking to Milliyet on 13 November 1996. "They have used and discarded us". Turkish Daily News. Milliyet. 1996-11-14. http://arama.hurriyet.com.tr/arsivnews.aspx?id=-500660. Retrieved 2008-10-22. 
  13. ^ a b Lee, Martin A (1999). The Beast Reawakens: Fascism's resurgence from Hitler's Spymasters to Today's Neo-Nazi Groups and Right Wing Extremists. Routledge. ISBN 0415925460. 
  14. ^ "Turkish Dirty War Revealed, but Papal Shooting Still Obscured" Martin A. Lee, Los Angeles Times, April 12, 1998.
  15. ^ Isingor, Ali (2000). "Istanbul: Gateway to a holy war". CNN (Italy). Archived from the original on 2008-05-24. http://web.archive.org/web/20080524160649/http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2000/russia/story/chechnya/istanbul.connection/. Retrieved 2008-08-28. 
  16. ^ "Greece condemns Turkish barbarity". Cyprus News Agency. 1996-08-12. http://www.hri.org/news/cyprus/cna/1996/96-08-12.cna.html. Retrieved 2008-08-27. 
  17. ^ Ayik, Zeki; Yoruk, Zafer F (1996-12-13). "Istanbul University: Alleged Police-Ulkucu Collaboration Escalates Tensions". Turkish Daily News (Hürriyet). http://arama.hurriyet.com.tr/arsivnews.aspx?id=-502244. Retrieved 2009-01-02. 
  18. ^ "Egoyan award winning film not shown yet in Turkey". Toronto Star. http://archives.econ.utah.edu/archives/pen-l/2004w01/msg00066.htm. Retrieved 2006-05-06. 
  19. ^ Sassounian, Harut (2004-01-15). "Gray Wolves Spoil Turkey's Publicity Ploy on Ararat". California Courier. ADL Ramgavar Azadagan France. http://adl.hayway.org/default_zone/gb/html/page3590.html. Retrieved 2008-08-27. 
  20. ^ Ülkü Ocaklari: Ararat Yayinlanamaz (Turkish)
  21. ^ Ülkü Ocaklari: ARARAT'I Cesaretiniz Varsa Yayinlayin! (Turkish)
  22. ^ Pacal, Jan (19997-04-04). "The Short and Bloody History of Ulkucus". Turkish Daily News (Hürriyet). http://arama.hurriyet.com.tr/arsivnews.aspx?id=-500825. Retrieved 2008-12-31. 
  23. ^ a b c Lee, Martin A. Les liaisons dangereuses de la police turque," Le Monde diplomatique, March 1997 (French)
  24. ^ The Double Standard: The Turkish State and Racist Violence (Chapter 13) in Racism in Europe (edited by Tore Bjorgo) (ISBN 0-312-12409-0)
  25. ^ Maksudyan, Nazan (November 2005). "The Turkish Review of Anthropology and the Racist Face of Turkish Nationalism". Cultural Dynamics 17 (3): 291–322. doi:10.1177/0921374005061992 
  26. ^ "NATO's Secret Armies: Chronology". Parallel History Project on Cooperative Security. ETH Zürich. http://www.php.isn.ethz.ch/collections/coll_gladio/chronology.cfm?navinfo=15301. Retrieved 2008-08-27. 
  27. ^ Nezan, Kendal (1998 July). "Turkey's pivotal role in the international drug trade". Le Monde Diplomatique. http://mondediplo.com/1998/07/05turkey. 
  28. ^ Official documents on ISN (hosted by ETH Zürich) concerning Gladio, including SIFAR (Italian military service) report on Gladio, extracts of former CIA director William Colby's memoirs, Italian prime minister Giulio Andreotti's public revelation to the Senate of the existence of Gladio in October 1990, Parliamentary investigation into the Swiss Defense Ministry, 1995 Italian parliamentary report on Terrorism, etc
  29. ^ Secret Warfare: Operation Gladio and NATO's Stay-Behind Armies ETH Zürich research project on Gladio directed by Dr. Daniele Ganser. Many documents available in various languages, including Turkish articles; audio interviews of Ganser; Ganser's June 2005 article in The Whitehead Journal of Diplomacy and International Relations; Der Spiegel article, etc.
  30. ^ Brzezinski, Zbigniew, Paige Sullivan and Center for Strategic and International Studies, Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States, (M.E.Sharpe Inc., 1997), 616. It is also revealed that a new force of 200 armed members of the Grey Wolves organization has been dispatched from Turkey in preparation for a new Azeri offensive and to train units of the Azeri army.
  31. ^ Fuller, Liz (2003-06-23). "AZERBAIJANI PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION CAMPAIGN GETS UNDER WAY". RFE/RL Caucasus Report (Radio Free Europe) 6 (23). http://rfe.rferl.org/reports/caucasus-report/2003/06/23-260603.asp. Retrieved 2008-08-27. 
  32. ^ Fuller, Liz (2007-05-30). "Azerbaijan: Date For Presidential Ballot Confirmed". Radio Free Europe. http://www.rferl.org/content/article/1076817.html. Retrieved 2008-08-27. 
  33. ^ Dutch: Guy Van Vlierden, Grijze Wolven zijn ook actief in Vlaamse partijen - Turkse extreemrechtse beweging geïnfiltreerd in Agalev en SP.A, Alert!, October–November 2002
  34. ^ Dutch: Fuat Korkmazer stapt op bij Turkse vereniging, Het Nieuwsblad, 8 septembre 2006
  35. ^ French: Hugues Dorzée, Le loup gris du PS hante Schaerbeek, Le Soir, 12 October 2006
  36. ^ William Mallinson, Cyprus: A Modern History, (I.B.Tauris, 2005), 109.
  37. ^ "Turkish authorities incited buffer zone violence". Cyprus Newsletter. EMBASSY OF CYPRUS, WASHINGTON DC. September 1, 1996. http://www.kypros.org/Embassy/Newsletter/1996/sept96.html. Retrieved 2008-08-27. 
  38. ^ Turkish: Hakkımızda / Wir über uns (Official website of the Grey Wolves in Europe)
  39. ^ Komisar, Lucy. "The Assassins of a Pope". http://www.monitor.net/monitor/9703b/turkeycia-sidebar.html. Retrieved 2006-07-04. 
  40. ^ Dutch: Ernst Haffmans, Belabberd resultaat Grijze Wolven bij gemeenteraadsverkiezingen 2006, Onderzoeksgroep Turks extreem-rechts
  41. ^ http://www.monitor.net/monitor/9703b/turkeycia-sidebar.html
  42. ^ http://mondediplo.com/1998/07/05turkey
  43. ^ http://www.monde-diplomatique.fr/1997/03/LEE/8019.html
  44. ^ http://arama.hurriyet.com.tr/arsivnews.aspx?id=-503120
  45. ^ Hüseyin Gülerce, Spirits of Doğan Öz and Uğur Mumcu ask about Baykal, Today's Zaman, 15 January 2010
  46. ^ Ganser, Daniele, NATO's secret armies: operation Gladio and terrorism in Western Europe, (Routledge, 2005), 238.
  47. ^ Wes Johnson, Balkan inferno: betrayal, war and intervention, 1990-2005, (Enigma Books, 2007), 389.
  48. ^ Marcus, Aliza, Blood and belief: the PKK and the Kurdish fight for independence, (New York University Press, 2007), 50.
  49. ^ Yildiz, Kerim and Susan Breau, The Kurdish Conflict: International Humanitarian Law and Post-Conflict Mechanisms, (Routledge, 2010), 11.
  50. ^ Grey Wolves, Encyclopedia of Terrorism, Ed. Cindy C. Combs and Martin W. Slann, (Infobase Publishing, 2007), 110.
  51. ^ Barry M. Rubin, Judith Colp Rubin, Chronologies of modern terrorism, (M.E.Sharpe Inc., 2008), 93.

External links