According to
Ruben Safrastyan, because the Grey Wolves are subtle and often formally operate as cultural and sports organizations, information about them is scarce.
Early history The Grey Wolves organization was formed by Colonel
Alparslan Türkeş in the late 1960s as the paramilitary wing of the
Nationalist Movement Party (MHP). In 1968, over a hundred
camps for ideological and paramilitary training were founded by Türkeş across Turkey. while Joshua D. Hendrick compared its organization to the Nazi
Schutzstaffel (SS). Young male students and economic migrants from rural areas who have settled in Istanbul and Ankara made up the majority of its members.
1970s violence and 1980 coup By the late 1970s the organizations had tens of thousands of members, Their most significant attack of this period was the
Maraş massacre in December 1978, when over 100
Alevis were killed. They are also accused of being behind the
Taksim Square massacre on 1 May 1977 During this violent period, Grey Wolves operated with the encouragement and the protection of the
Turkish Army's
Special Warfare Department. The conflict between left-wing and right-wing groups eventually resulted in a military intervention in September 1980 when General
Kenan Evren led a
coup d'état. Following the 1980 coup, the Grey Wolves and MHP were banned and their activity was diminished. Turkish nationalists and others assert that the Grey Wolves were "used and then discarded" by the
deep state in Turkey.
Post-1980 After the 1980 coup, the Grey Wolves reorganized. They began to direct their efforts against
Kurds in Turkey, as well as lobbying for aggressive
denial of the Armenian genocide and support of the
Turkish occupation of Cyprus.
Anti-Kurdish violence and activism 1990s In the 1990s, the Grey Wolves turned their focus on the
Kurds and participated in the
Kurdish–Turkish conflict in
Turkish Kurdistan. In May 1998, the Grey Wolves were involved in two murders. On 3 May, a group of Grey Wolves attacked two students in
Bolu who were passing by the organization's building. Kenan Mak, one of the students, was killed.
2010s On 9 November 2010, Hasan Şimşek, a Grey Wolves member and a student, was killed at the
Kütahya Dumlupınar University during an apparent fight between
Kurdish nationalist and Turkish nationalist student groups. At his funeral, MHP leader Bahçeli stated that "We expect every kind of measure to be taken to prevent the expansion of the PKK mob, who have a tendency to grow in the universities." Violence between Turkish and Kurdish students also broke out in
Marmara University in Istanbul on 12 November. In September 2011, the Ankara Police Department raided 40 locations across Ankara belonging to the Grey Wolves. They took 36 people into custody and seized numerous guns and knives. According to police, the Grey Wolves were planning an attack on the pro-Kurdish
Democratic Regions Party (BDP). In October 2013, the Grey Wolves demonstrated across Turkey against the
Kurdish–Turkish peace process. In October 2014, the Grey Wolves were involved in deadly clashes during the
2014 Kurdish riots in Turkey against the government's perceived
collaboration with the Islamic State during the
Siege of Kobanî. A group of Grey Wolves in
Sancaktepe, Istanbul, attempted to lynch a young man. On 20 February 2015,
Fırat Yılmaz Çakıroğlu, leader of the Grey Wolves organization in
Ege University, was stabbed to death by left-wing and according to some reports, Kurdish nationalist students. On 7–8 September 2015, Turkish nationalists, including Grey Wolves members, attacked 128 offices of the pro-Kurdish
Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) across Turkey in an apparent retaliation for
anti-government attacks by the
Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). Some have alleged that some of the attacks were carried out by
AK Party members "masquerading as Grey Wolves" or that the Grey Wolves cooperated with AK Party members in attacks on HDP offices and left-wingers suspected of sympathy for the Kurds.
Greece-related violence and activism On 18 June 1988
Kartal Demirağ, a senior member of the Grey Wolves, attempted to assassinate Prime Minister
Turgut Özal's at the
Motherland Party congress. Özal linked it to his visit to Greece three days earlier, saying that the attempt was carried out "by a group opposed to his efforts to improve
relations with Greece." On 6 September 2005, a group of nationalists, led by Grey Wolves leader
Levent Temiz, stormed into an Istanbul exhibition commemorating the
anti-Greek pogrom of 1955. They threw eggs and tore down photos. The Grey Wolves issued a statement denying involvement. In October 2005 they staged a rally and proceeding to the gate they laid a black wreath, chanting "Patriarch Leave" and "Patriarchate to Greece", inaugurating the campaign for the collection of signatures to oust the Ecumenical Patriarchate from Istanbul. As of 2006 the Grey Wolves claimed to have collected more than 5 million signatures for the withdrawal of the Patriarch and called on the Turkish government to have the patriarch deported to Greece. In December 2017 Grey Wolves members, among them the
BBP-affiliated
Alperen Ocakları, invaded the
Hagia Sophia and prayed there in protest against the
United States recognition of Jerusalem as capital of Israel.
Anti-Armenian violence and activism In January 2004, the Grey Wolves prevented the screening of
Ararat, a film about the
Armenian genocide, in Turkey. On 24 April 2011, the
murder of Sevag Balıkçı, a soldier of
Armenian descent in the
Turkish Army, was committed by Kıvanç Ağaoglu, who sympathized with Abdullah Çatlı, the late leader of the Grey Wolves. According to Ruben Melkonyan, an
Armenian expert on
Turkish studies, Ağaoglu was a member of the Grey Wolves. On 24 April 2012, the
Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day, nationalist groups, including the Grey Wolves, protested against the commemoration of the
genocide in Istanbul's
Taksim Square. In June 2015, during a visit to the medieval Armenian city of
Ani in
Kars Province by the Armenian pianist
Tigran Hamasyan, the local leader of the Grey Wolves suggested that his followers should "go on an Armenian hunt."
Other acts of violence According to
Zürcher and Linden, when Sunni radicals
attacked Alevis in Istanbul in March 1995, the police in the Gazi quarter were "heavily infiltrated by Grey Wolves" and it was not until the police were replaced by military units that peace was restored. In December 1996, the Grey Wolves attacked left-wing students and teachers at
Istanbul University, with the alleged approval of the police. In late November 2006 the Grey Wolves staged protests against
Pope Benedict XVI's visit to Turkey. On 22 November, tens of protesters symbolically occupied
Haghia Sophia in Istanbul to perform Muslim prayers. They chanted slogans against the Pope, such as "Don't make a mistake Pope, don't try our patience".
Reuters reported that the event was organized by
Alperen Ocakları, considered an offshoot of the Grey Wolves. Police arrested around 40 protesters for violating the ban on prayers in the former
mosque, which had been a museum since the 1930s. In July 2014 around a thousand people demonstrated in
Kahramanmaraş against the presence of
Syrian refugees who fled the
Syrian Civil War. Many protesters made the sign of the Grey Wolves, blocked roads in the city and removed Arabic-language signs from stores. An Uighur worker at a Turkish-run Chinese restaurant was assaulted. Members of the Grey Wolves displayed a banner in multiple locations that read, "We crave Chinese blood." Grey Wolves members attacked the Thai consulate in Istanbul, in apparent retaliation for the deportation of hundreds of Uyghurs by Thailand. MHP chairman
Devlet Bahçeli stated that "Our nationalist youth are sensitive to injustices in China," and said that the attacks by MHP-affiliated youth on South Korean tourists was "understandable," adding "What feature differentiates a Korean from a Chinese? They see that they both have slanted eyes. How can they tell the difference?" In November 2015, the Grey Wolves protested
Russian involvement in the Syrian Civil War near Istanbul's Russian consulate, Ankara, and Adana, accusing Russia of slaughtering
Syrian Turkmens. ==Presence in Eurasia==