, granting the organization the authority to offer various courses at ministry-run education centers, a development likely to increase their ideological influence on people attending these courses.){kind=link}
Turkey’s Ministry of Education has signed a protocol with the Grey Wolves, the youth wing of the far-right Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), granting the organization the authority to offer various courses at ministry-run education centers, a development likely to increase their ideological influence on people attending these courses.
Journalist İsmail Saymaz, who announced the development on X on Monday with a photo of the text, said the protocol, signed by the ministry’s Directorate General of Lifelong Learning, allows the organization to conduct general, vocational and technical school courses within the scope of non-formal educational activities.
Milli Eğitim Bakanlığı Hayat Boyu Öğrenme Merkezi, MHP’nin yan kuruluşu olan Ülkü Ocakları ile “yaygın eğitim faaliyetleri kapsamında genel, mesleki ve teknik kurslar düzenlenmesi” için protokol imzaladı. pic.twitter.com/G1lYzor9Zn
— İsmail Saymaz (@ismailsaymaz) January 6, 2025
Non-formal education refers to educational programs designed for people who have never had access to formal educational opportunities, those who left school early, those currently enrolled in formal education institutions and those seeking to enhance their skills in various professional fields.
The document was distributed to several departments in the ministry as well as to the Grey Wolves Educational and Cultural Foundation, according to Saymaz.
The Grey Wolves is an unofficial paramilitary wing of the MHP, which has become one of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s most steadfast allies, particularly following a failed coup in 2016. The MHP and the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) have cooperated closely in recent years.
Although speculation about a possible collapse of their alliance intensified following the AKP’s poor performance in the March 31 local elections, securing only 35.4 percent of the vote nationwide, both Devlet Bahçeli, leader of the MHP, and Erdoğan have voiced their commitment to maintaining the alliance, which has been crucial in securing electoral victories and consolidating power in Turkey’s political landscape.
The ideology of the Grey Wolves 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 expressed concerns about the group, saying it was expanding to worrying levels not only in Turkey but also in EU countries.