Grey Wolves

The Grey Wolves (Turkish: Bozkurtlar), officially known as Idealist Hearths (Turkish: Ülkü Ocakları, [ylcy odʒakɫaɾɯ]), is a Turkish far-right political movement and the youth wing of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP). Commonly described as ultranationalist, neo-fascist, Islamo-nationalist (sometimes secular), and racist, the Grey Wolves have been described by some scholars, journalists, and governments as a death squad and a terrorist organization. Its members deny its political nature and claim it to be a cultural and educational foundation, citing its full official name: Idealist Hearths Educational and Cultural Foundation (Turkish: Ülkü Ocakları Eğitim ve Kültür Vakfı).

Established by Colonel Alparslan Türkeş in the late 1960s, the Grey Wolves rose to prominence during the late 1970s political violence in Turkey when its members engaged in urban guerrilla warfare with left-wing militants and activists. Scholars hold it responsible for most of the violence and killings in this period, including the Maraş massacre in December 1978, which killed over 100 Alevis. They are also alleged to have been behind the Taksim Square massacre in May 1977, and to have played a role in the Kurdish–Turkish conflict from 1978 onwards. The attempted assassination of Pope John Paul II in 1981 by Grey Wolves member Mehmet Ali Ağca was never formally linked to Grey Wolves leaders, and the organization's role remains unclear.