A danger left unchecked

Among supporters of democracy, there is a broad consensus that organised right-wing extremism is currently the greatest threat to democracy in Germany, having long since regained representation in the Bundestag. Yet the Turkish organisation, Grey Wolves, the second-largest right-wing extremist group in Germany after the AfD, with around 12,000 members, are all but ignored.

They have emerged from Turkey's extreme right, a grouping which itself has a long history of violence, racism and exclusion. To this day, at least some of the Grey Wolves ideology is acceptable to and supported by the political majority in Turkey. 

With "Graue Wölfe. Türkischer Rechtsextremismus in Deutschland" (Grey Wolves: Turkish Right-Wing Extremism in Germany), political scientist Ismail Küpeli has written a comprehensive overview, unearthing the historical roots of Turkish extremism, tracing its development from the end of the Ottoman Empire to the present day, and finally, offering an analysis of the spheres of influence it has established in Germany.

It's a book which is likely to become the standard text on a subject that is complex, wildly under-researched and receives little in the way of political and social attention. 

That the genocide of Armenians in 1915 is still largely denied or at least downplayed in Turkey, and that streets in Turkey continue to be named after its perpetrators, is well known in Germany. That Turkish organisations, mostly from the far-right, agitate against any discussion and commemoration of the genocide in Germany, such as the Bundestag resolution of 2016 or the genocide memorial in Cologne, is less widely known. 

In "Graue Wölfe", Küpeli offers context to this continued denial: 

"Recognising and addressing the genocide would shake both the foundations of Turkish-Islamic ideology and the self-identity of people of Turkish origin. The ideological conception of the Turkish nation could become fragile and brittle should it be recognised that its creation was based on unimaginable acts of violence, and that Turkish-Muslim identity is only conceivable on the basis of wholesale exclusion and destruction."

And that's just one aspect of an ideology with roots in the Young Turk movement and the end of the Ottoman Empire. With forensic attention, Küpeli takes apart the ethnic-nationalist narrative, which exalts Turkishness to the point of making historically absurd and just plain wrong statements, such as the claim that all languages ​​in the world developed from Turkish.

It is a concept of identity based on racist exclusion, not just of Armenians, but also Kurds, Jews, Christians and other minorities – and ultimately against any form of diversity whatsoever. Over the course of the 20th century, this ideology resulted in numerous expulsions and massacres, sometimes carried out independently by right-wing extremist groups, sometimes hand in hand with the government in Ankara.

In Turkey, tens of thousands of people have been murdered, and hundreds of thousands expelled, since the republic was founded in 1923. That President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's ruling AKP party cultivates close ties to right-wing extremist parties and groups is hardly surprising, but even the Kemalist CHP and others use right-wing extremist and racist language, if they believe it will help mobilise voters.

The Grey Wolves have it easy in Germany

The Grey Wolves first managed to gain a foothold in Germany in the 1970s, with the active support of the centre-right CDU and CSU parties. According to Küpeli, the CDU/CSU turned a blind eye to the crimes of the Grey Wolves, viewing the extremists as allies in the fight against communism.

The basis for this alliance was a meeting between right-wing extremist Alparslan Türkeş and CSU leader Franz Josef Strauß in 1978. As a result, the far-right MHP party in Turkey also established contacts with the far-right NPD party in Germany, just one of many examples showing how ethnic ideologies often have a cross-border impact.

The Grey Wolves and their offshoots, some of which are linked to the Turkish state, are hardly visible in the German mainstream because their propaganda and recruitment (which nowadays take place mainly via social media) primarily focus on people of Turkish origin. But also, according to Küpeli, because anti-Armenian and anti-Kurdish sentiments play hardly any role in the popularity of the Grey Wolves in Germany

Where the Grey Wolves are finding support, Küpeli explains, is among German antisemites and anti-Israel activists, whose demonstrations they have been attending in greater numbers since the Hamas attack on Israel on 7 October 2023, to further expand their network.

It's not just hostility and intimidation either. Turkish right-wing extremists in Germany and other EU countries have ignited repeated outbreaks of violence. In France and Austria in 2020, Armenians and Kurds were attacked, events which shook politicians and contributed to the banning of the Grey Wolves in those countries.

The German federal government, on the other hand, has always struggled to ban violent right-wing extremist organisations and to stand up for a strong democracy, which is why such groups have an easier time in Germany than in other countries. Calls for a ban on the Grey Wolves in Germany are not new, nor is the fact they are largely ignored by politicians.

In the final section of his book, Küpeli outlines possible strategies for action, both for politicians and civil society. Education and media literacy play an important role, he points out, allowing people to recognise the codes used by Turkish right-wing extremists online and off. He also calls on state authorities to tackle the problem head-on. 

"Graue Wölfe. Türkischer Rechtsextremismus in Deutschland"

Ismail Küpeli

Unrast Verlag

Münster 2025

136 pages

This is an edited translation of the German original. Translated by Louise East.