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The American Jewish Committee (AJC) Berlin has spoken out in favor of a consistent approach in dealing with the right-wing extremist Turkish gray wolves movement in Germany. It is worrying that the Union of Turkish-Islamic Cultural Associations in Europe (ATIB) is on the one hand monitored by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, but at the same time is the Federal Government's interlocutor through its membership in the Central Council of Muslims in Germany (ZMD), Director Remko Leemhuis said on Tuesday 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" movement (gray wolves). The Cologne social scientist Kemal Bozay, who wrote the study "Turkish Right-Wing Extremism in Germany - The Gray Wolves" on behalf of the AJC Berlin, referred to demonstrations of power by rocker clubs from the spectrum of the movement in German cities. Several German-Turkish rappers are also problematic, their anti-Semitic, nationalist and anti-Kurdish texts are well received by 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.
Bozay even estimates the number of members to be at least 18,500, according to which the Gray Wolves form “one of the strongest right-wing extremist currents in this country”, namely “numerically more than three times as large as the current NPD”.
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The members themselves describe themselves as "idealists" (Turkish: ülkücü).
The Constitutional Protection Report for 2019 states: "The different forms range from classic racism to the marginal area of Islamism".
According to Bozay's research, the Gray Wolf ideology is characterized by anti-Semitism, racism and hatred of minorities.
This posed considerable dangers for Jews and members of Kurdish, Alevi and other communities, he warned.
The current exerts an attraction on young people because it provides a fixed structure of values and norms.
Bozay also attests the Gray Wolves an ideological closeness to German right-wing extremists.
Last November, the Bundestag approved a joint motion by the CDU / CSU, SPD, FDP and the Greens calling on the federal government to examine a ban on the clubs of the Ülkücü movement.
It is racist, anti-Semitic and anti-democratic and threatens internal security in this country.
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“We need better observation of the movement,” demanded Cem Özdemir, Member of the Green Party, who himself had been threatened by Turkish nationalists.
An “information campaign” aimed specifically at young people is also important.
According to the constitution protection report, the "gray wolves" are the carriers and disseminators of nationalist-right-wing extremist ideas.
The organization also has ties to the ultra-nationalist MHP party in Turkey, which forms a government alliance there with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's AKP.