Editing Grey Wolves (organization) (section)

==Links to the Turkish government and NATO==
{{See also|Deep state in Turkey}}

In the late 1970s, former military prosecutor and [[Constitutional Court of Turkey|Turkish Supreme Court]] Justice Emin Değer documented collaboration between the Grey Wolves, the [[Central Intelligence Agency]] (CIA),<ref name="Jacoby" /> and [[Counter-Guerrilla]],<ref name="Lee 1998 LA Times" /> the Turkish [[stay-behind]] [[anti-communist]] organization organized under [[NATO]]'s [[Operation Gladio]], a plan for [[guerrilla warfare]] in case of a [[communist]] takeover. Martin Lee writes that the Counter-Guerrilla supplied weapons to the Grey Wolves,<ref name="Lee 1998 LA Times" /> while according to Tim Jacoby, the CIA transferred guns and explosives to Grey Wolves units through an agent in the 1970s.<ref name="Jacoby" />

During the 1996 [[Susurluk scandal]], the Grey Wolves were accused of being members of the Counter-Guerrilla.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Pacal|first1=Jan|title=The Short and Bloody History of Ulkucus|url=http://arama.hurriyet.com.tr/arsivnews.aspx?id=-500825|work=Turkish Daily News|issue=222|publisher=[[Hürriyet]]|date=4 April 1997|archive-date=19 October 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141019035337/http://arama.hurriyet.com.tr/arsivnews.aspx?id=-500825|quote=Ulkucus, the ultranationalists, were the lead players of the Turkish Gladio that was revealed with the Susurluk Accident. Abdullah Catli, a convicted criminal whose name was mentioned very often and who was accused of many cases, was mentioned as the head of the Gladio. There were many Ulkucu Special Team officers, ministers, deputies who were accused of being the member of the Gladio.}}</ref> [[Abdullah Çatlı]], second-in-command of the Grey Wolves leadership,<ref name="Lee 1998 LA Times" /> was killed during the [[Susurluk car crash]], which sparked the scandal. The April 1997 report of the [[Grand National Assembly of Turkey|Turkish National Assembly]]'s investigative committee "offered considerable evidence of close ties between state authorities and criminal gangs, including the use of the Grey Wolves to carry out illegal activities."<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Park|first1=Bill|volume=153|issue=5|title=Turkey's Deep State: Ergenekon and the Threat to Democratisation in the Republic|url=https://www.rusi.org/downloads/assets/200810_Park_Turkeys_Deep_State.pdf|publisher=[[Royal United Services Institute]]|page=54|doi=10.1080/03071840802521937|date=October 2008|s2cid=154033736|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141025055237/https://www.rusi.org/downloads/assets/200810_Park_Turkeys_Deep_State.pdf|archive-date=2014-10-25|doi-access=free}}</ref>

In 2008 the [[Ergenekon trials]], a court document revealed that the [[National Intelligence Organization (Turkey)|National Intelligence Organization]] (MİT) armed and funded Grey Wolves members to carry out political murders.<ref name="todayszaman 2013" /> They mostly targeted members of the [[Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia]] (ASALA),<ref name="todayszaman 2013">{{cite news|title=Machete attacks raise fears over widespread violence |url=http://www.todayszaman.com/columnist-240183-on-%3Cb%3Ecrucifixes%3C/_machete-attacks-raise-fears-over-widespread-violence_320660.html |work=Today's Zaman |date=14 July 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141025065709/http://www.todayszaman.com/columnist-240183-on-%3Cb%3Ecrucifixes%3C/_machete-attacks-raise-fears-over-widespread-violence_320660.html |archive-date=2014-10-25 }}</ref> which attacked Turkish embassies abroad in retaliation for the Turkish state's continued [[denial of the Armenian genocide]]. The Turkish intelligence services also made use of the Grey Wolves in the [[Kurdish–Turkish conflict]], by offering them amnesty for their crimes in exchange.<ref name="Combs" /><ref name="lee">{{cite book|first=Martin A.|last=Lee|author-link=Martin A. Lee|title=The Beast Reawakens: Fascism's resurgence from Hitler's Spymasters to Today's Neo-Nazi Groups and Right Wing Extremists|publisher=Routledge|year=2000|location=New York|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=DRDeAAAAQBAJ&dq=Grey+Wolves+neo-fascist&pg=PA202 202]|quote=The paramilitary wing of the Grey Wolves have been utilized by the Turkish intelligence services to assassinate PKK leaders.}}</ref>

In 2018, the AK Party formed an [[People's Alliance (Turkey)|alliance with the MHP]]<ref>{{cite news |last1=Uras |first1=Umut |title=Why Erdogan is entering key elections with a far-right ally |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/6/18/why-erdogan-is-entering-key-elections-with-a-far-right-ally |access-date=26 August 2022 |agency=Al Jazeera |date=18 June 2018 |archive-date=26 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220826105142/https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/6/18/why-erdogan-is-entering-key-elections-with-a-far-right-ally |url-status=live }}</ref> which succeeded in re-electing President Erdoğan.<ref>{{cite news |title=Turkey election: Erdogan wins re-election as president |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-44596072 |access-date=26 August 2022 |agency=BBC |date=25 June 2018 |archive-date=26 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220826105142/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-44596072 |url-status=live }}</ref> In 2022, concerns around the close connections between the Turkish government and the Grey Wolves caused the Foreign Affairs Committee of the [[European Parliament]] to recommend that the Grey Wolves be banned in the [[European Union]].<ref>{{cite web |author1=European Parliament |title=European Parliament resolution of 7 June 2022 on the 2021 Commission Report on Turkey |url=https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/A-9-2022-0149_EN.html |access-date=26 August 2022 |date=7 June 2022 |quote=is concerned by the attempts by the Turkish Government to influence members of the Turkish diaspora in the EU, such as through the Presidency for Turks Abroad and Related Communities (YTB) and the Turkish-Islamic Union for Religious Affairs (DITIB), which could interfere with democratic processes in some Member States; remains worried that the racist right-wing extremist movement Ülkü Ocakları, also known as the Grey Wolves, which is closely linked to the ruling coalition Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), is spreading not only in Turkey but also in EU Member States; calls for the EU and its Member States to examine the possibility of banning their associations in EU countries; calls on the Member States to closely monitor the racist activities of this organisation and to fight back to curtail its influence; |archive-date=26 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220826105142/https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/A-9-2022-0149_EN.html |url-status=live }}</ref>