, in the murder of the group’s former leader, academic Sinan Ateş.){kind=link}
New footage obtained by the T24 news website has further strengthened suspicions about the involvement of the Grey Wolves, the youth wing of the far-right Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), in the murder of the group’s former leader, academic Sinan Ateş.
The 38-year-old Ateş was fatally shot in the capital city of Ankara on December 30, 2022. His murder in broad daylight sent shockwaves across the country, sparking a debate about the power struggles within the country’s nationalists.
The Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office has recenntly completed an investigation into the murder of Ateş more than a year later and drafted an indictment. The indictment, which accuses 22 people of “premeditated murder,” was accepted by the Ankara 31st High Criminal Court earlier this week.
The indictment lists 22 suspects, including individuals from the ranks of the Grey Wolves and associated political entities. Key figures named include Eray Özyağcı, who is accused of firing the fatal shots; Emre Yüksel, a private secretary for current Grey Wolves president Ahmet Yiğit Yıldırım; and former Grey Wolves executive Tolgahan Demirbaş, among others.
Despite these accusations, Turkish journalists said the indictment notably omits any mention of the alleged masterminds or the motive behind the assassination, focusing instead on those who were directly involved in the execution of the crime. This prompted fierce criticism from Ateş’s widow, Ayşe Ateş, and people following the case.
T24 on Thursday revealed new footage showing the car by which Özyağcı was taken from Ankara to İstanbul following the murder. The indictment fails to reveal the vehicle’s license plate number and refers to it only as an “Audi.”
According to the footage, the car whose plate number is visible and was driven by Yüksel with Demirbaş in the front seat, is a government-issued security vehicle with emergency lights.
Turkish media also reported that Ayşe Ateş provided the vehicle’s license plate number and mentioned that it was a security vehicle in her statement, but these details weren’t included in the indictment. Ateş also demanded that the authorities determine who the car was registered to and all the individuals who have used it.
The Oda TV news website further revealed that the car was previously used as an office vehicle by Yıldırım, saying that the Grey Wolves president has been seen in various social media posts with the vehicle.
Ayşe Ateş, commenting on the developments on X on Thursday, said the authorities’ attempts to prevent justice from being served by putting “an empty piece of paper” as an indictment in front of them in order to hide the “real criminals” from the public are “futile.”
Bize operasyon çekiliyor, deniliyor. "Pensilvanya" deniliyor. Eğer bir operasyon çekiliyorsa çekenler bu ve benzer delillerle suçu sabitlenmiş olanlardır. Kurumsal araçları katillere tahsis edenlerdir. "Onun kalemini kırdık" diyerek sağa sola elçi yollayanlar, birbirine mesaj… pic.twitter.com/Fu3AfafGOF
— Ayşe Ateş (@ayseatesaa) May 9, 2024
The widow’s strong response highlights a broader accusation of government interference and a possible coverup, suggesting that the indictment was intentionally stripped of details to protect certain political figures.
Ateş’s mother, while mourning her son’s death, pointed to the higher echelons of the MHP and its leader, Devlet Bahçeli, an ally of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
Main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Özgür Özel previously met with Ayşe Ateş, pledging support in the pursuit of justice.
This case is being followed particularly closely due to the suspects’ political affiliations and the historical importance of the Grey Wolves as an unofficial paramilitary wing of the MHP. Their ideology is mainly based on Turkish nationalism. Therefore, Kurds, Armenians and other minorities in Turkey have occasionally been their targets.
In 2020 France officially banned the Grey Wolves after a center dedicated to the memory of those who died in the mass killings of Armenians during World War I was defaced with graffiti, including the name of the Grey Wolves.
The German government has faced an intensified public campaign in favor of banning the Turkish nationalist group since then.
In 2021 the European Parliament called on the European Union and its member states to examine the possibility of adding the Grey Wolves to the EU terrorist list.
In its 2019-2020 report prepared by Turkey rapporteur Nacho Sanchez Amor, the EP voiced concerns about the group, saying it was expanding to worrying levels not only in Turkey but also in EU countries.