The Gray Wolves are a paramilitary wing of the ultra-nationalist Turkish party MHP (Party of the Nationalist Movement). It was founded in 1969 by the former Colonel Alparslan Türkesh, who was involved in a 1960 coup.
However, the MHP goes back to ideas that arose in the 19th century about the glorification of the “superior Turkish race that would have elevated Islam civilization to a higher level”. This was often linked to “Panturanism”, the pursuit of the unity of the Turkish-speaking peoples of the Balkans in Europe across the Middle East and the Caucasus to Central Asia, which is considered the cradle of the Turkic peoples. This brought the ideology into conflict with existing borders of Russia and China, but also with Armenians, Kurds, Greeks, Jews and, in part, Arabs and Persians.Read more below the photo).
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