The French interior minister has announced that the Turkish nationalist group ‘Grey Wolves’ has been dissolved, adding that the organization was responsible for violent acts and incited discrimination and hatred.
On Wednesday, the Council of Ministers approved the dissolution of the Turkish nationalist group Grey Wolves in France.
The outcome of the meeting was announced by Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin. He shared a photo of the decree on Twitter, adding that the group “was dissolved… in accordance with the instructions of the President of the Republic.”
Darmanin had announced on Monday that he was seeking to ban the organization, which is linked to the Turkish Nationalist Movement Party (MHP).
The MHP strongly condemned the initiative and took to Twitter to share a photo of the French government “embracing the PKK terrorists in the Elysee Palace,” arguing that the apparent hypocrisy exposed “Europe’s ambivalent attitude.”
Last week, Grey Wolves members were seen among a Turkish mob that stormed through the streets of Lyon, “searching” for Armenians.
Also, the group’s name and pro-Turkish slogans had been inscribed on the city’s Armenian Genocide Memorial. This happened as Turkey is supporting Azerbaijan in its conflict with Armenia over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region.
The banning of Grey Wolves comes as tensions run high between Paris and Ankara. President Emmanuel Macron embarked on a heavily criticized campaign against radical Islam after the beheading of a school teacher, Samuel Paty, and recently enraged Muslims around the world following his endorsement of Charlie Hebdo’s Prophet Mohammed cartoons.
President Erdogan responded by comparing Macron’s response to the treatment of Jews before World War II and questioned the French president’s mental health.
Following the deadly attack on a church in the city of Nice, the country’s security forces have cracked down further on organizations suspected of promoting radical Islam.
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