That's what the footballer did.One event at the European Football Championships in Germany was reported in Poland almost exclusively by sports services and most likely only due to the fact that his hero was punished with a distraction from the game in 2 consecutive meetings
In a match of the 1/8 final against Austria at the stadium in Leipzig, Turkish player Merih Demiral, after scoring a second goal, made a motion symbolizing the Turkish movement Ülkücü (Idealists). The Turkish sports association challenged UEFA's decision in the global sports court CAS, and president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan called the punishment "a purely political decision" towards Turkey. Demiral himself did not feel guilty. He stated that the way he celebrated concerns his Turkish identity. Therefore, he made this motion and saw at the stadium the people who besides performed it. “We are all Turks, I am very arrogant to be Turkish and that is the meaning of this gesture. I just wanted to show how happy and arrogant I am.”
Yet it was not only an insignificant, innocent motion of joy, due to the fact that Ülkücü is not any innocent, sympathetic organization. Ülkücü is simply a nationalist, anti-Semitic and racist ideology formed in the mid-20th century in Turkey. It refers to the thought of a community of all ethnically pure Turkish tribes, forming a homeland encompassing an empire called TURAN, extending from the Balkans to Western China and even Japan. Among the main enemies of Turkishism are Armenians, Greeks, Jews, Kurds, but also... the United States.
In the 1960s, the Ülkücü movement, under the leadership of its creator Alparslan Türkeş (the large Hitler), focused on acquiring young people for the alleged pantrian ideology. The first camps were formed, where young people conducted military exercises and were formed politically. It is estimated that as many as 100,000 commandos were trained there, called Bozkurtçular (Share Wolves). As of 1968, Grey Wolves began violent action against the increasing Turkish left, but besides against independent journalists and intellectuals. It was the Grey Wolf militants who were liable for most of the political killings in Turkey in the late 1970s. According to the Turkish authorities, only between 1974 and 1980 did 694 murders. Mehmet Ali Ağca, who carried out the assassination of Pope John Paul II in 1981, was besides a associate of the Grey Wolves.
The followers of the Ülkücü movement belong to Turkish right-wing political parties, they operate in various forms and forms. It's a large and dangerous organization. Grey Wolves are besides active in many European countries in the form of various local associations and associations. frequently the authorities effort to limit their activity; for example, in September 2023, a law was issued in Austria prohibiting the usage of the symbolism of the Grey Wolves under fines of up to 20,000 Euros. In Switzerland, 10 associations of Grey Wolves were counted, but attempts by 2 parliamentarians there to ban their activities – so far – failed. In France, their activity has been illegal since November 2020. Grey Wolves are peculiarly many and active in Germany.
According to a study published in September 2023 by the German Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz (Constituency Protection Office – BfV) in Germany, there are about 12.100 (according to another sources of 18,000) people identified as Grey Wolves. Almost all belong to various associations, sports clubs, church communities at mosques, associations of Turkish companies in Germany, etc. All these organizations are affiliated with respective federations. The biggest of them are:
– Turkish-Islamic Federation of idealistic associations in Germany, with about 7,000 members.
– Turkish-Islamist Union of cultural associations in Europe, with about 2,500 members.
– The Federation of planet Order in Europe, with about 1,000 members.
All 3 federations are mostly controlled by highly nationalist Turkish parties. They effort not to exposure outside their extremism, they don't agitate on social media. They encourage their members to engage in local political life, to compete in local elections. any are even members of the largest German political parties.
There is besides a large group, according to the BfV of about 1,600 people, of "free shooters" active in social media, where they aggressively propagate the ideology of Ülkücü, but besides in the past have committed violence. In 1980 they murdered Turkish communist Gelalettin Kesima in Berlin, in 1995 in Cologne young Kurd Seyfettin Kalana. After the Bundestag passed a resolution in 2016 that the Armenian massacre of the Ottoman Empire was genocide, the Grey Wolf community launched a run of hatred against German politicians, and those with Turkish roots were threatened with death.
They publically salute the "wild salute", besides to provoke their top enemies, surviving in Germany Kurds. Taking advantage of the ongoing conflict in the Gaza Strip, the Grey Wolves show their anti-Semitism by participating in many actions in Germany to support Palestinians. From 2021 to 1922, BfV recorded verbal and physical attacks by the Grey Wolves on Jews surviving in Germany and an effort to set fire to the synagogue.
In Poland, Grey Wolves (unless?) are not present. But possibly they will be invited by Bąkiewicz, their ideological link to this year's March of Independence. We've seen akin company on these marches.
