![\"\"](\"https:\/\/soerenkern.com\/web\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/gray-wolves.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
The \u2018Gray Wolves,\u2019 an influential Turkish ethno-nationalist movement, now has a record number of supporters in Germany is and is emerging as one of the largest rightwing extremist organizations in the country.<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Soeren Kern | July 18, 2026<\/p>\n The \u2018Gray Wolves,\u2019 an influential Turkish ethno-nationalist movement, now has a record number of supporters in Germany, according<\/a> to a new intelligence report on domestic threats to Germany\u2019s constitutional order. The group is rapidly expanding and is emerging as one of the largest rightwing extremist organizations in Germany.<\/p>\n The number of Gray Wolves in Germany now exceeds 13,500, which is more than four times<\/a> the number of members (3,000) of Germany\u2019s neo-Nazi party, \u2018Die Heimat\u2019 (formerly the National Democratic Party of Germany, NPD), according<\/a> to the latest annual report (Verfassungsschutzbericht 2025<\/em>) by Germany\u2019s domestic intelligence agency (Bundesamt f\u00fcr Verfassungsschutz, BfV<\/em>).<\/p>\n The Gray Wolves movement\u2014known in Turkish as \u2018\u00dclk\u00fcc\u00fc\u2019 (Idealism)\u2014is a Turkish version of Aryanism and its exclusionary ethnic worldview opposes anyone who is not Turkish or Sunni Muslim. It is anti-Christian and anti-Jewish, as well as anti-American, anti-Armenian, anti-Kurdish, and anti-Greek.<\/p>\n The Gray Wolves seek to unify all Turkish peoples into an imaginary Turkish empire called Turan whose territory would stretch from Europe to China. The Gray Wolves want to establish a new world order based on Islam that is led by Turkey; they are vehemently opposed to the assimilation or integration of Turkish immigrants into Western society.<\/p>\n The German intelligence report explains<\/a>:<\/p>\n \u201cThe right-wing extremist Turkish \u2018\u00dclk\u00fcc\u00fc\u2019 movement emerged in the mid-20th century. It is grounded in an ideology ranging from extreme nationalism to right-wing extremism, characterized by elements such as racism, antisemitism, and the exaltation of Turkish identity. Its asserted cultural and religious superiority leads to the denigration of other ethnic groups and religions\u2014particularly Jews, Kurds, and Armenians\u2014in a manner contrary to the spirit of international understanding.<\/p>\n \u201cOther targets of hostility include communism, capitalism, and \u2018imperialism,\u2019 as well as the states associated with these concepts. The goal of defending and strengthening Turkish identity, coupled with a self-image of belonging to a martial and combative people, reinforces the desire for segregation and drives social disintegration. The ideal vision is the creation of the \u2018Turan\u2019 empire\u2014based on the concept of common ancestry\u2014extending from the Balkans to western China, under Turkish leadership.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Close Ties to Turkey<\/strong><\/p>\n The Gray Wolves movement in Germany is divided into three main umbrella organizations:<\/p>\n Another 3,000 Gray Wolves in Germany belong to other \u2018\u00dclk\u00fcc\u00fc\u2019 structures and the unorganized \u2018\u00dclk\u00fcc\u00fc\u2019 movement, according to the report. They are mainly younger people who are in contact with one another primarily via social networks on the internet, but sometimes also meet each other personally. The intelligence report adds<\/a>:<\/p>\n \u201cThe Middle East conflict remains a dominant topic of discourse within the independent \u2018\u00dclk\u00fcc\u00fc\u2019 scene; here, solidarity is expressed\u2014without exception\u2014with the Palestinian side. Furthermore, \u2018\u00dclk\u00fcc\u00fc\u2019 adherents frequently engage in displays involving weapons or other threatening gestures intended to project strength, superiority, and a readiness to fight. The scene\u2019s high potential for violence becomes evident during confrontations with political opponents, such as at demonstrations.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Youths With Identity Issues<\/strong><\/p>\n A new report by the Federal Working Group on Religiously Motivated Extremism (Bundesarbeitsgemeinschaft religi\u00f6s begr\u00fcndeter Extremismus<\/em>, BAG RelEx), together with the Network for Islamism Prevention and Democracy Promotion (Verbund Islamismuspr\u00e4vention und Demokratief\u00f6rderung<\/em>, KN:IX), reveals<\/a> that \u201cmany of the people associated with Turkish ultranationalism belong to younger generations who were socialized in Germany and often have only limited direct connections to T\u00fcrkiye.\u201d<\/p>\n Yet, a recent German parliamentary interpellation notes<\/a> that unorganized supporters of the Gray Wolves \u201coften behave much more aggressively on social media\u201d where \u201cthey disseminate racist and antisemitic content, cultivate hostile stereotypes, and incite hatred\u2014particularly against Kurds and political opponents.\u201d<\/p>\n Analyst Kemal Bozay writes<\/a> that the MHP, Turkey\u2019s far-right \u2018Nationalist Movement Party\u2019 which has around 500,000 members, \u201crepresents the largest gathering place for the far-right movement in Turkey.\u201d He notes<\/a> that its youth organization, \u2018\u00dclk\u00fcc\u00fc Gen\u00e7lik\u2019 (Idealistic Youth), is highly active in Germany and that its \u201cidealistic-militant logic\u201d is \u201cclearly evident\u201d in its oath (\u00dclk\u00fcc\u00fc Yemini):<\/p>\n \u201cBy Allah, the Qur\u2019an, the Fatherland, the Flag, we swear an oath. My martyrs, my front-line soldiers [veterans], may they be safe. We, the idealistic Turkish youth, will continue our struggle against Communism, Capitalism, Fascism, Zionism, and all forms of imperialism. Our struggle will go to the last man, to the last breath, to the last drop of blood. Our struggle will continue until nationalist Turkey, until the Turan is reached. We, the idealistic Turkish youth, will not shrink back, will not waver [break down], (but we will) achieve, achieve, achieve our goals. May Allah protect and exalt the Turks. Amen.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n In addition to indoctrinating Turkish-German youths against Alevis, Armenians, Greeks, Jews, Kurds, and Yazidis, the Gray Wolves carry out intelligence-gathering operations for the Turkish government, and have murdered, assaulted, and intimidated critics of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Germany.<\/p>\n In 1995, during an annual meeting of the T\u00fcrk Federasyon in Essen, Germany, the then MHP chairman Alparslan T\u00fcrke? coined the term \u201cEuropean Turkishness\u201d (Avrupa T\u00fcrkl\u00fc?\u00fc<\/em>), which serves as a collective term for supporters of the Turkish nationalist identity outside of Turkey\u2019s borders. Bozay writes<\/a>:<\/p>\n \u201cIt refers to people of Turkish origin who, although their lives are centered in Western Europe, are nevertheless expected to propagate their Turkish nationalist identity. This logic is also reflected in the slogan \u2018Become German, remain Turkish!\u2019, with which almost all Turkish far-right organizations in Germany urge their members to acquire German citizenship but then use it to promote supposedly Turkish national interests and build a strong Turkish nationalist lobby in Germany. The focus is particularly on recruiting Turkish-speaking youths of the third or fourth generation of immigrants who were born and raised in Germany but often struggle with identity issues. They are to be politicized and mobilized for Turkish far-right organizational structures.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n The Turkish-Islamic Synthesis<\/strong><\/p>\n Although Turkish nationalism lies at the heart of the Gray Wolves\u2019 ideology, Islam has an essential role: it serves as a counterweight to the influence of secular, liberal, and often pluralistic ideas. \u201cThe central implication of this \u2018Turkish-Islamic synthesis\u2019 is the notion of the inseparability of Turkish national and Islamic elements in Turkish history,\u201d according<\/a> to Bozay.<\/p>\n Analysts Maida Ganevic and Miriam Uludogan-He\u00df write<\/a>:<\/p>\n \u201cThe so-called Turkish-Islamic synthesis refers to an ideological current within Turkish ultranationalism that views Turkish ethnic identity and Sunni Islamic religiosity not as competing forces, but as elements that are constitutively interlinked: in this context, Islam is not regarded primarily as a universal community of faith that transcends national borders, but rather as an essential component of the Turkish \u2018national character\u2019\u2014as the religion that naturally belongs to Turkishness, so to speak\u2026.The central ideological implication of this synthesis lies in the postulated inseparability of Turkish nationality and Islamic religiosity\u2026.<\/p>\n \u201cIn its concrete manifestation, the Turkish-Islamic synthesis exerts a cumulatively exclusionary effect: individuals who are not considered ethnically Turkish\u2014such as those of Kurdish or Arab origin\u2014and\/or who do not belong to Sunni Islam\u2014adhering instead to Alevism or Yazidism, for instance\u2014often find themselves doubly marginalized within this interpretive framework.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n The Myth Behind the Movement<\/strong><\/p>\n The Vienna-based MENA Research and Studies Center explains<\/a> the myth that underpins the Gray Wolf movement:<\/p>\n \u201cTheir symbol: the gray wolf. Their name: \u00dclk\u00fcc\u00fc, Turkish for idealist. Their goal: a Turkish empire and the elimination of political opponents\u2026.<\/p>\n \u201cAccording to legend, a wolf in pre-Islamic times led and saved endangered Turkish tribes who were from the Altai Mountains in Central Asia. The Gray Wolf is considered a powerful hunter that roams the country freely and independently. Since he lives from hunting, he will never recognize others as free and independent. The Gray Wolves movement follows this picture: All non-Turkish sections of the population, especially minorities in their own country, are \u2018racially\u2019 persecuted\u2026.<\/p>\n \u201cThe declared goal of the movement is the establishment of a Pan-Turanian nation that stretches from the Balkans through Central Asia to China and unites all so-called \u2018Turkic peoples\u2019 in a \u2018Greater Turkic empire.\u2019 Its symbol, the Gray Wolf, is still used as a sign of distinction today: followers greet the world with the wolf salute. In addition, the howling wolf, along with the Ottoman war flag with the three crescents, is a popular flag motif. Officially, Turkish followers call themselves \u00dclk\u00fcc\u00fc, idealists, unofficially they are the Gray Wolves.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Banning the Gray Wolves<\/strong><\/p>\n Austria banned<\/a> the Gray Wolf salute in February 2019. Anyone found making the gesture in public faces a fine of \u20ac4,000 ($4,550); repeat offenders face fines of \u20ac10,000 ($11,400). France proscribed<\/a> the Gray Wolves in November 2020, after they defaced<\/a> an Armenian genocide memorial near Lyon. On May 4, 2021, the European Parliament called<\/a> for an EU-wide ban of the group:<\/p>\n \u201cThe European Parliament is highly worried that the racist right-wing extremist \u00dclk\u00fcc\u00fc movement, known as \u2018Grey Wolves,\u2019 which is closely linked to the ruling coalition party MHP (the Nationalist Movement Party), is spreading in Turkey itself, but also in EU Member States; it calls on the EU and its Member States to examine the possibility of adding Grey Wolves to the EU terrorist list, to ban their associations and organizations in EU countries, to closely monitor their activities and to counter their influence, which is especially threatening for people with a Kurdish, Armenian or Greek background and anyone they consider an opponent.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Lawmakers are warning they pose a growing threat to the country\u2019s constitutional order, but Germany\u2019s government has been reluctant to ban the group, apparently out of a fear of angering Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.<\/p>\nTurkish Islamic Ultranationalism on the Rise in Germany<\/h2>\n
\n