Ultranationalist Grey Wolves members said to batter student at Ankara’s Gazi University

Can Bursalı / DUVAR

A student studying at Gazi University's Department of German Language Teaching filed a criminal complaint alleging that he was tortured by a group of members of the Grey Wolves in the university’s restroom.

The Grey Wolves, operating inside Turkey for decades, is regarded as the armed wing of the government-ally far-right Nationalist Movement Party (MHP). 

Accordingly, the freshman student was taken into the restroom by two people on Sept. 23, the first day of the fall term. Four other people joined them, who said they were members of the Grey Wolves.

The group first beat the student. He was hit repeatedly with the stick of a cleaning broom found in the restroom. Moreover, the group confiscated the telephone of the student and read his messages.

The student was also reportedly interrogated by a person whom the others addressed as “Reis” and that he was told, “We'll get you out of this campus limped.” The group then tried to break his leg, the complaint said.

Moreover, the attackers said, “If we kill you here, nothing will happen to us, be thankful that we didn't kill you,” and threw the student's school card into the toilet.

After receiving a medical report, the student filed a criminal complaint against the attackers over the charges of “Establishing an organization to commit a crime,” “intentional injury,” “torture,” “threat,” “deprivation of personal liberty,” “prevention of the exercise of political rights,” “insult,” and “violation of the confidentiality of communication.” 

“We know well the organizers of this attack and what their intentions are. The presence of mafias, gangs, and crime machines that threaten society on the streets and enter universities cannot be considered normal. We will not succumb to criminal gangs that emulate mafia methods at universities,” the Communist Movement of Turkey (TKH), to which the student belonged, said in a statement.

The Grey Wolves have been banned in several European countries due to their constant attacks. During the 1970s and 1980s, it committed acts of violence on the streets of Turkey, when its members often clashed with political opponents.