PodcastFrance to ban Turkish ultra-nationalist Gray Wolves group
France plans to ban Turkish far-right nationalist group known as the Gray Wolves, which is closely linked to the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) allied to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. The move comes after the Armenian memorial near Lyon was defaced with pro-Turkish slogans including "Gray Wolves" and "RTE" in reference to Erdoğan.
Duvar English - Reuters
France plans to ban Turkish far-right nationalist group the Gray Wolves, Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said on Nov. 2.
Dozens of Turks storm Armenian neighborhoods, threaten residents in LyonA ban on the "particularly aggressive" Gray Wolves would be submitted to the French Cabinet on Nov. 4, Darmanin told a National Assembly hearing on France's fight against Islamist militants.
The Gray Wolves are closely linked to the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) of Devlet Bahçeli, the junior coalition partner of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).
The Gray Wolves are considered the MHP's militant wing and caused havoc on the streets in Turkey during the 1970s and 1980s.
The ban follows recent incidents in France involving the Gray Wolves group amid growing tensions between France and Turkey and over the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
In one incident last weekend, France 3 television reported that the Armenian memorial near Lyon was tagged with pro-Turkish slogans including “Gray Wolves” and “RTE” in reference to Erdoğan.
The ban also comes as France has been cracking down on militants following the murder of a French schoolteacher last month.
Samuel Paty was beheaded on Oct. 16 by an 18-year-old of Chechen origin seeking to avenge his victim’s use of caricatures of the Prophet Mohammad in a class on freedom of expression.
Following Paty's murder, France banned an Islamist group named after the late Sheikh Yassin, a Palestinian Muslim leader and co-founder of the Hamas movement.