Turkey’s MHP targets 154 people for defaming party over murder of nationalist figure

The far-right Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) has accused 154 people of defaming the party over the murder of a former leader of the Grey Wolves (Ülkü Ocakları), the MHP’s youth wing, the Cumhuriyet daily reported.

Thirty-eight-year-old Sinan Ateş was fatally shot in 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 32nd High Criminal Court, which began the trial of 22 suspects accused of the premeditated murder of Ateş on July 1, unanimously rejected a request by lawyers representing the MHP, an ally of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), to be a co-plaintiff in the trial.

Journalist Barış Terkoğlu on Monday said in his column in the Cumhuriyet daily that the MHP’s petition accused 154 people, including politicians, journalists, legal experts and academics, of defaming the party due to its alleged role behind the murder.

The party denies any links to the murder, although some party figures are known to have connections to the hitman.

The MHP’s lawyers had submitted to the court along with the petition a hard disk containing television programs that covered the statements of the figures accused of violating the party’s rights. Terkoğlu said the lawyers requested, based on these recordings, that the court summon these 154 people and request their testimony due to the allegations of defamation.

The names listed in the petition include main opposition Republican People’s Party leader Özgür Özel; far-right and anti-refugee Victory Party (ZP) leader Ümit Özdağ; nationalist opposition İYİ (Good) Party) leader Müsavat Dervişoğlu; former prime minister and opposition Gelecek (Future) Party leader Ahmet Davutoğlu; leader of the opposition Democracy and Progress Party (DEVA) Ali Babacan; Erkan Baş, chairman of the Workers’ Party of Turkey (TİP); pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) deputy group chairperson Gülistan Kılıç Koçyiğit; and journalists Murat Muratoğlu, Barış Pehlivan, Deniz Zeyrek, Fikret Bila, İsmail Saymaz, Merdan Yanardağ, Murat Ağırel, Nevşin Mengü, Taha Akyol, Timur Soykan, Uğur Dündar, Alican Uludağ and Özlem Gürses in addition to retired admiral Türker Ertürk and former police chief Hanefi Avcı.

Ateş’s widow, Ayşe, criticized the MHP for trying to silence the people who are trying to resolve the murder.

“Hpwever this political murder will be solved not when those who speak are silenced, but when those who are silent are made to speak,” she tweeted on Monday.

The indictment in the case, which fails to address the alleged masterminds or the motive behind the assassination, focusing instead on the people who were directly involved in the execution of the crime, had prompted fierce criticism from Ayşe Ateş and people following the case.

The widow’s criticism of the indictment 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 from the MHP.

This case is being followed by the opposition particularly closely due to the suspects’ political affiliations and the 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.