extremism
“Gray wolves”: MEPs call for examination for ban
The Gray Wolves’ sign of recognition and greeting: the “Wolf Salute”. photo
© Peter Kneffel/dpa
Traffic light and CDU politicians are pushing for a review of a ban on the Turkish group in Germany. As the largest right-wing extremist organization, it endangers democracy in this country.
Politicians from the CDU, Greens and FDP warn of the Turkish movement “Grey Wolves”. In its overall structure, it is “the largest right-wing extremist organization in Germany and, with its ultra-nationalist, racist and anti-Semitic worldview, a danger to our liberal democracy,” said CDU member of the Bundestag Christoph de Vries of “Welt”.
He speaks of “increasing ties between the ‘Gray Wolves’ and the Turkish AKP or President (Recep Tayyip) Erdogan”. This shows that there is an urgent need for action.
Many supporters in Germany
The supporters of the right-wing extremist “Ülkücü Movement” are known as “Gray Wolves”. In Turkey, the ultra-nationalist MHP is their political representative and ally of President Erdogan’s AKP. According to the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, they have around 11,000 supporters in Germany.
The CDU MP de Vries emphasizes that a ban on associations must always be legally watertight and should not be open to challenge in court. “But we expect that the Federal Minister of the Interior will also pursue the ban procedure with the necessary seriousness and consistency, including the necessary use of resources,” he says.
The FDP interior expert Linda Teuteberg made a similar statement and called for a “clear answer from the well-fortified, free constitutional state”. She expects “that the Federal Minister of the Interior will seriously examine whether and how a ban on the clubs associated with the ‘Grey Wolves’ can be enforced in a court of law”.
“Ban would be consistent and right”
Green MP Lamya Kaddor is explicitly in favor of a ban: “In my view, a ban on the Ülkücü movement as one of the largest nationalist right-wing extremist movements in Germany would be consistent and correct.”