U.S. organizations call on Biden Administration to list Turkish Grey Wolves as terrorist organization

WASHINGTON, D.C. — This week, the American Friends of Kurdistan (AFK), the Hellenic American Leadership Council (HALC), In Defense of Christians (IDC), the Middle East Forum (MEF), and the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) called on the U.S. State Department to formally list the Turkish Grey Wolves movement as a Foreign Terrorist Organization.

The aforementioned organizations and associations, according to the public radio of Armenia, stated that the Grey Wolves meet the three legal requirements stipulated in the U.S. law to be listed as a terrorist movement.

As it is a foreign organization that has the intention and also engages in terrorist activities, it threatens the security and national security of the citizens of the U.S.

According to terrorism experts, if the Grey Wolves is classified as a foreign terrorist organization, it will be illegal for anyone in the U.S., or under U.S. jurisdiction, to provide them with material support.

In addition, the funds of the Grey Wolves movement in the U.S. would be frozen and members of this group will be banned from entering the U.S.

The organization was founded in 1968 and appeared on the Turkish scene when they engaged in direct conflict with leftists in the 1970s. They are closely associated with the Nationalist Movement Party (Milliyetçi Hareket Partisi, MHP), the main partner of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi, AKP).

The group has been active and linked to violence in a number of European countries with large Turkish populations.

The European Parliament has recently called for the group to be listed as a terrorist organization in the European Union.

France banned the organization last year and many German and Austrian lawmakers have called for similar measures in their country. Yet the ban will have only symbolic importance. According to a European diplomat who spoke to the French magazine L’Écérés, the Grey Wolves do not have an office or legal status and putting them on the list of terrorist organizations will not end their activities and may even complicate their surveillance.