France bans pro Turkish nationalist movement ‘Gray Wolves’

 France is on its toes after a series of attacks on the civilians and is taking every possible measure in its hand to protect the country. The latest development in the actions taken by the French officials is dissolving the Turkish nationalist ‘Gray Wolves’ movement that supports the Turkish President. 

The Interior Minister of France Gerald Darmanan has announced on Wednesday that the cabinet will take its call on dissolving the extremist Turkish nationalist ‘Gray Wolves’ movement. 

This step is bound to increase tensions between Turkey and France especially after the two countries have already exchanged a war of words---one attacking the Islamist terror groups while the other denying any such behavior. With the French government dissolving the Gray Wolves movement, it has directly targeted president Erdogan as the movement is linked to the Nationalist Movement Party, an ally of the ruling party in Turkey. 

The group was involved in escalating the tensions in an ongoing conflict situation of the Nagorno-Karabakh, where the group was known to create a campaign called ‘Hunt for Armenians’ in France. In these rallies, they were found to support President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in one way or the other. 

The conflicted situation between Azerbaijan and Armenia resulted in France and Turkey taking opposite sides. Turkey-backed Azerbaijan while Armenia received Emmanuel Macron’s support. When things escalated and reached Lyon (Eastern France), disagreements between the Turkish and Armenian communities grew. 

The Armenians in the region were threatened by the group, who was found saying, “We are going to kill them.” The Term Gray Wolves is sensitive to the communities involved in the matter. This phrase was written on a monument in honor of the victims of the genocide and the National Center for Armenian Memory near Lyon. 

This movement is highly criticized because it believes in the superiority of Turks and questions the very existence of Kurds. They represent the hostility of Turkey towards communities from Greece and Armenia. 

Even the symbol that the group uses is considered derogatory by many. It shows the thumb touching the tips of the middle two fingers and the index and little fingers raised. It was banned by Austria as they considered it a mark of neo-fascism. This year Even a Russian organization, Russian International Affairs Council, a pro-Kremlin think tank marked the group under its ‘extremist organization’ tag.