The Grey Wolves were founded in Turkey in the early 1960s as a youth movement, affiliated with the ultra-nationalist Turkish party MHP (Nationalist Movement Party). The MHP was known at the time for its pan-Turkish, secular and Kemalist ideology and is today affiliated with the ruling AK Party of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
The Grey Wolves quickly became the paramilitary wing of MHP. The movement has a long history of violence once morest left-wing groups and minorities. For example, the Grey Wolves were involved in a series of murders in the 1970s and 1980s. According to human rights organizations, thousands of people were killed, including journalists, intellectuals, students, Kurds, Armenians and Alevites (a religious minority).
Many of the group’s leading members were imprisoned following the military coup of 1980. Since then, the Grey Wolves have been labelled as neo-fascist and racist by many human rights organisations. Today, MHP has become a traditional political party in Turkey, albeit with an unofficial Grey Wolves wing.
In 2021, the European Parliament called on member states to ban the movement and put it on the terror list. The Grey Wolves movement is also active outside Turkey in countries with a large Turkish minority. In several European countries, sympathizers are being monitored by the intelligence services.
