The American Jewish Committee (AJC) Berlin has called for a consistent approach in dealing with the right-wing extremist Turkish movement of the Grey Wolves in Germany.
It is alarming that the Union of Turkish-Islamic Cultural Associations in Europe (ATIB), for example, is under observation by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution on the one hand, but at the same time is a dialogue partner of the Federal Government through its membership in the Central Council of Muslims in Germany (ZMD), said Director Remko Leemhuis at the presentation of a study on the activities of the movement. The Office for the Protection of the Constitution sees a close connection between the Union and the right-wing extremist Turkish “Ülkücü” (Grey Wolves) movement.
Kemal Bozay, a social scientist from Cologne who wrote the study “Türkischer Rechtsextremismus in Deutschland – Die Grauen Wölfe” (Turkish Right-Wing Extremism in Germany – The Grey Wolves) on behalf of AJC Berlin, referred to demonstrations of power by rocker clubs from the movement’s spectrum in German cities. Problematic are also several German-Turkish rappers whose anti-Semitic, nationalistic and Kurdish-hostile lyrics are very popular among some young people of Turkish origin.
The Office for the Protection of the Constitution estimates that around 11,000 people belong to the movement in Germany. They describe themselves as “idealists” (Turkish: ülkücü). The 2019 report of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution states: “The different manifestations range from classical racism to the fringes of Islamism”.
Last November, the German Parliament had approved a joint motion by the CDU/CSU, SPD, FDP and the Greens calling on the federal government to consider banning the associations of the Ülkücü movement. It is racist, anti-Semitic and anti-democratic and threatens internal security in this country.
According to the report of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, the “Grey Wolves” are supporters and propagators of nationalist-right extremist ideas. The organisation also has links to the ultra-nationalist MHP party in Turkey, which forms a government alliance with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s AKP.