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They take the list of the CDU or smaller alliances and penetrate politics: the “gray wolves.” How right-wing Turkish extremists are gaining influence is shown in the investigation of Mainz report.
By Heiner Hoffmann and Ahmet Senyurt, SWR Mainz
Local elections in North Rhine-Westphalia are only a few days away, the parties are in the final phase of their electoral campaign. Investigation of Mainz report and the news portal “Der Westen” show that there are also candidates with connections to unconstitutional gray wolves. According to the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, the “Gray Wolves” are a Turkish right-wing extremist movement that fights for a Great Turkish Empire and does not shy away from violence.
Councilor Hasan Tuncer from Mülheim has also had experience with this group. A few years ago he founded the “Alliance for Education”, which represents the group in the town hall. When a member of the alliance board turned out to be a supporter of the “Gray Wolves”, he confronted her. But behind his back, the man has had numerous meanwhile. new members recruited in an interview with Mainz report Tuncer says: “We have been infiltrated by ‘gray wolves’, representatives or people who appear to have been posted by the mosque communities.
Call for infiltration in Germany
Ferit Sentürk, who is said to have hijacked the alliance, is now the new top candidate and is openly committed to his ideology: “‘The Gray Wolves’, to whom I belong, passively, actively, also as a member of the board, I am advisor, they are over the age of 50. The people who sit there really only come to have coffee, to pray on Fridays. I accompany them. ” He denies having infiltrated the alliance. It only recruited new members, this is a democratic process.
Turkey expert Burak Copur warns against a general strategy of the ‘gray wolves’ also in Germany:’ The pioneer of the ‘gray wolves’ called years ago to infiltrate the political parties in Germany. And, of course, many of his supporters followed this call to Today. With this infiltration strategy, the movement is trying to represent the interests of Turkey, the Turkish nation, also in German politics. “
Participation in events organized by far-right groups.
The connections are rarely as clear as in Mülheim / Ruhr. In the north of Duisburg there are posters hanging everywhere from Sevket Avci, CDU councilor, former president of the Integration Council for years. And a welcome guest on Turkish TV with international reach.
Avci was mentioned years ago in a report by the CDU organization “Union of Diversity”. It is said to be close to the “gray wolves”. The former president of the integration council of the city of Duisburg and current councilor also appears in a dossier of the advisory center against right-wing extremism in North Rhine-Westphalia: he is close to the “gray wolves”, they say.
Mainz report and “The West” is, among other things, a photo showing Avci at an event organized by a far-right group from Turkey. In the background “greets” a portrait of a neo-fascist who is notorious among ethnic minorities. Investigation of Mainz report and “West” are evidence of numerous other meetings with and with right-wing Turkish extremists and their associations. Furthermore, according to an article in a Turkish-language online newspaper, a member of Turkey’s far-right MHP recommended voting for Avci last year.
No response from CDU in Duisburg
According to the extract from the land register, the CDU politician also owns the site where the Gray Wolves repeatedly gathered in Duisburg. On the wall is a large poster referring to the “Ülkücü Movement” – “Gray Wolves”.
Avci’s lawyer reports that his brother is in charge of managing the property. Avci has no political affiliation with the “Ülkücü movement”, on the contrary, it rejects it. As president of the Integration Council for a long time, he was invited to thousands of events and did not always have any influence on where he was shown in the photos with whom.
CDU Duisburg responded to requests for Mainz report and “the West” not yet. When asked about the issue during a press conference in Saxony, party leader Armin Laschet replied: “The ‘gray wolves’ will be excluded from the CDU.”
But how close to “gray wolves” is allowed? The CDU party leadership has known about the Avci case for a long time. Members of the group “Union of Diversity” had already addressed Avci’s alleged proximity to the “Gray Wolves” in a presentation in 2016. However, this had no consequences, says then-co-initiator Salim Cakmak in an interview with Mainz report.
Turkey expert Burak Copur does not see the Duisburg CDU case as an isolated case: “Everything has a system. There are also cases like this elsewhere.” The disinterest of the German parties in “these extremist tendencies in the Turkish community,” Copur said in an interview with Mainz report.
