This report will review some of the history and ideology of the Turkish organization Ülkü Ocakları (“Idealist Hearths”) also known as the Bozkurtlar (“Grey Wolves”) before examining the actions of its leadership and members as recorded in open sources. These activities include: fighting in Syria and Azerbaijan outside of conventional Turkish military forces; praising those killed from official organization outlets; shipments of supplies to armed groups in Syria; and praise from official outlets for Shamil Basayev, a chechen terrorist leader who directed dozens of attacks in Russia that killed hundreds of civilians. The Ülkü Ocakları is an arm of the Milliyetçi Halk Partisi (MHP), which is the smaller of two parties in a coalition governing the country, the other being President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s AKP.
German National Socialism, Turkish Turanism And The Background Of The Ülkü Ocakları
With the rise of fascism in Europe in the 1920s and 1930s, existing racial political trends in Turkey gained influence. Some who were propagating Turanism[1] in Turkey found familiar ideas in the blood-and-soil thinking of National Socialism. Alparslan Türkeş, who later founded and lead the Ülkü Ocakları, played an integral role in a growing Turkish racialist political movement during this period. He propagated Turanist ideology and was an avowed sympathizer and supporter of Hitler.[2] Hitler’s government also sought ideological allies against the USSR and the Western Powers, and in June 1941 the Turkish and German governments signed a non-aggression pact.
Whether there was any back-channel diplomatic connection between Hitler’s government and the Turanists is a subject of debate. Social scientist Kemal Bozay and others have referred to an SS brigade leader who reported in 1944 to the Foreign Affairs Ministry of the Third Reich that a connection had been established with the leader of the pan-Turkish movement, likely referring to Türkeş.[3] MHP MP Ümit Özdağ has said that such claims are made only in unreliable and politically motivated books. In a column on this issue, Özdağ noted a book by writer Ecevit Kılıç, who discusses the connection between Türkeş and Hitler’s government, citing Swiss author Daniele Ganser. Özdağ says that Ganser cites secondary and tertiary sources, including “propaganda books that the PKK had printed in Germany.”[4] It is expected that an MP for the MHP, of which the Ülkü Ocakları is a branch, would want to downplay any connection between Türkeş and Hitler. Whether or not Türkeş had contact with Hitler’s government, Türkeş was a major figure in the movement in Turkey at that time, and in September 1944 he was tried and sentenced along with 22 other nationalists. He was sentenced to nine months and 10 days in prison for spreading “propaganda.”[5] In March 1945 he and 12 others in the case were acquitted of their charges. He said during the trial: “I am a Turkish nationalist, but I am not, as has been claimed, a racist.”[6]
In 1966, Türkeş formally established an organization called the Ülkü Ocakları Birliği (“Union of Idealist Hearths”). In 1973, following a putsch in the country in 1971, the group continued under the name Ülkü Ocakları Derneği (“Association of Idealist Hearths”). Ahead of the 1980 putsch in Turkey, this organization was involved in street violence between leftists and rightists. It generally operated as the youth arm of the MHP and Türkeş, who founded and led the MHP, took a special interest in the development of the group, which came to be known as the Ülkü Ocakları, until his death in 1997.[7]
Today the organization’s full name is the Ülkü Ocakları Eğitim Ve Kültür Vakfı (“Idealist Hearths Educational and Cultural Foundation”).[8] It is generally known simply as the Ülkü Ocakları or Bozkurtlar (“Grey Wolves”), and its members and supporters as ülkücüler (“idealists”). In this report it will be referred to as the Ülkü Ocakları.
Ülkü Ocakları Ideology – Islamism And Ethno-Nationalism
Ülkü Ocakları ideology is organized around ethnic nationalism, Islamism, and Turanism. For the most part, it combines Islamist and Turkish nationalist rhetoric to promote a vision of a uniform Turkish nation with Islam as its religion. This relatively straightforward picture is complicated by the use by many of the group’s members and supporters of pre-Islamic Turkish symbology, including Turkic runes and religious terminology associated with Tengrism,[9] a Turkish shamanistic religion to which Turks adhered before the Seljuks, who are among the ancestors of modern Turks and who later migrated into what is today Turkey, converted to Islam in 985.[10]
The Ülkü Ocakları’s official media mostly refrains from such messaging, but the symbol of the wolf, which the group uses extensively, is itself a pre-Islamic Turkic symbol. Also the Ülkü Ocakları do not, for example, use the early Arab caliphs extensively in their messaging, as many Turkish Islamist groups do. The group instead presents the Turkish nation as the heir of the legacy of Central Asia. Turkish Islamists will also often be deferrential toward and sometimes revere Arabs and the Arabic language generally for their central role in the history of Islam. Alternatively, Ülkü Ocakları supporters, while Muslim, generally do not do this in their messaging, and are often hostile to the Syrian migrants in Turkey, among others. This may indicate that the ideology and its adherants prioritize Turkishness over Muslimness. The group however does often make use of the “three crescents,” a set of symbols long used on the Ottoman flag to denote the three continents, Europe, Asia, and Africa, that the empire spanned. The MHP, of which the Ülkü Ocakları is an arm, is also the only party that uses the three crescents in its official party flag.
The racial component of the Ülkü Ocakları ideology leads the group’s members to express hostilty toward, threaten, attack, and sometimes kill members of minority ethnic groups in Turkey, including Kurds,[11] Armenians,[12] opposition political leaders,[13] and even Korean tourists,[14] sometimes on behalf of Uyghur Muslims in China.[15] In particular they have fought often with members and supporters of the PKK, a Kurdish terrorist organization, and the HDP, a predominantly Kurdish political party in Turkey.[16] On October 7, 2014, amid a violent period between the PKK and the Ülkü Ocakları groups, a car reportedly driven by an Ülkü Ocakları supporter plowed into a crowd of Kurdish protesters in Istanbul.[17] This fighting sometimes extends to diaspora communities living in the West, as it did in October 2017 when Ülkü Ocakları supporters “went mad and searched for PKK supporters everywhere and chased them” in Antwerp, Belgium.[18]
The Nine Lights Doctrine, which Alparslan Türkeş formulated and articulated in 1965 as the party program of Cumhuriyetçi Köylü Millet Partisi’nin (Republican Villagers Nation Party, CKMP, which later became the MHP), and then again in 1969 as the party program of the MHP, is central to the political ideology of the Ülkücü movement, which continues to cite the doctrine in its publications.[19] The nine concepts of this doctrine are: Nationalism, Idealism, Moralism, Scientism, Socialism, Agricultural Development, Liberalism and Individualism, Development and Populism, and Industrialism and Technology.
Ülkü Ocakları Activity In The Syria War From 2013 To Today
There is significant evidence of Ülkü Ocakları activity in the Syria War. Many of the group’s members have been documented fighting there. These men are not simply members of the organization, but are endorsed, supported, and praised by the Ülkü Ocakları leadership, and are sometimes themselves among its leaders. They also have extensive connections with the MHP, which is part of the two-party coalition that governs Turkey, alongside President Erdoğan’s AKP.
While there have been many Turkish military operations in Syria in recent years, including several major incursions, these fighters are not part of the Turkish regular military force: their military attire resembles that of guerilla fighters rather than that of a regular army; they have no insignia or emblems on their uniforms indicating affiliation with the Turkish military; no mention of them online indicates such affiliation; and there has been no official Turkish military operation in Syria’s Latakia province, where much of their activity has been documented. Some other auxiliary forces in Syria, such as the Sultan Murad Division, which Turkey’s national intelligence service, the Milli İstihbarat Teşkilatı (MİT), reportedly established in 2012 and which is trained in and has its salaries paid by the Turkish government,[20] have moved in tandem with Turkish regular forces in their major operations, such as Operation Euphrates Shield.[21] However, there are no reports that the fighters from the Ülkü Ocakları have done the same. It is, however, unlikely that the Ülkü Ocakları are able to move fighters and supplies over the Turkey-Syria border without coordination with and approval from the Turkish government and military.
Much of the material in this report reflects activity in and around the Turkmen Mountain range of what is today Latakia province in Syria. The borders of Turkey were primarly determined by the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne and the 1926 Treaty of Ankara. However in 1939, following the withdrawal from Hatay of French troops, the Parliament of Hatay voted unanimously to become part of Turkey, which Turkey accepted and France recognized.[22] Today, Hatay is Turkey’s southernmost province and extends south into Syria beyond the rest of the Turkey-Syria border. Turkmen Mountain is the area of Syria immediately south of Hatay’s southern border, in Syria’s Latakia province, and it reportedly has 27 villages of Turkmens. Syrian Turkmens are Syrian citizens of Turkish origin, many of whom trace their ancestry to geography that is today Turkey. There are an estimated 200,000 to 3.5 million Turkmens in Syria and most of them live in Damascus, Latakia, Hama, Homs, Aleppo, and Raqqa.[23] Other locations in Syria mentioned in the report are Bayırbucak, which is the district of Syria’s Latakia province in which the Turkmen Mountain range is found, and Aleppo. Aleppo is about 22 miles from the Turkey-Syria border, while Turkmen Mountain is about 10 miles from the same border.
This balancing of religion and nation can be seen in the symbology of the official emblem of the Ülkü Ocakları, which features a crescent, a symbol of Islam popularized by the Ottomans, a wolf, and the color blue. Both blue and the symbol of the wolf were used in the flag of the First Turkic Khaganate in the sixth to eighth centuries.
Emrah Çelik
One Emrah Çelik was photographed in Syria giving the Ülkü Ocakları salute and holding the head of a man reported to have been a Syrian soldier. Çelik appears to have a Turkish flag patch on his shoulder; it is not clear whether he was part of a regular Turkish military unit when the photo was taken. The photo surfaced online in April 2020.[24] The group’s salute is extending the forefinger and pinky and touching the middle and ring finger to the thumb. The result is a shape that resembles the head of a wolf.
Emrah Çelik was an active member of the AKP’s political organization for Tekirdağ province as of August 2019. The AKP is in a political coalition with the MHP, which runs the Ülkü Ocakları.
Emrah Çelik was also photographed next to a sign that reads “Turkmen Mountains – 1071 Raiders,” next to which several fighters whose Ülkü Ocakları connections are clearly established, such as İbrahim Küçük and Alparslan Çelik, have also been photographed. 1071 is the year of the Battle of Manzikert, at which Sultan Alp Arslan, after whom Alparslan Türkeş is named, led a Seljuk army to victory over a Byzantine army on a field near the modern-day town of Malazgirt in Muş province, Turkey, opening the path for the Seljuk conquest of and migration into Anatolia.
Selami Aynur
Upon the March 2014 death of one Selami Aynur, the former president of the Ülkü Ocakları for Giresun, MHP officials in contact with one Adil Orli, a leader of the Turkmen militias in the Turkmen Mountain range, said: “Our boss has reached martyrdom.” The building of the Ülkü Ocakları branch in Bursa Orhangazi displayed a banner commemorating Selami Aynur.[25]
Adil Orli, who was photographed in an an MHP office alongside MHP politicians and Ülkü Ocakları leaders, was featured in a 45-minute Al-Jazeera documentary on the Turkmen militia under his leadership in Syria.[26] He has said he is part of the Turkmen Mountain Martyrs Battallion of the Turkmen Mountain Division.[27] An ethnic Turkmen, Orli speaks Turkish and Arabic and was reportedly wounded by shrapnel from a Syrian government artillery strike.[28] He has referred to the fighting in Syria as jihad, saying: “We will struggle on this path until the end, with Allah’s permission. It is a holy struggle, after all: jihad.”[29] He gave an interview in which he described the fighting in Turkey to Pamukkale TV, a television channel based in Denizli, a city in southwest Turkey.[30]
On April 17, 2014, in the MHP’s Pendik district office in Istanbul, Orli was photographed with: Fırat Söğütlü, then president of the Orhangazi branch of the Ülkü Ocakları; Hüseyin Bozan, director of the Turkmen Agency, a news outlet; and Metin Özüpek, MHP leader for the Kartal district of Istanbul. A Turkish news outlet reported that Muhammet Aytemur Haşimi and Hulusi Çolak, both leaders of the Ülkü Ocakları, and Tuna Altay aka Adem Şen, then Ülkü Ocakları leader for Pendik were also in the photo – the presence of Haşimi, Çolak, Altay, and Şen in the photo could not be independently verified.
In the group photo, Orli holds a photo of Selami Aynur holding a rifle and sitting next to a child giving the Ülkü Ocakları salute.
The Ülkü Ocakları have continued to honor the memory of Selami Aynur. On March 24, 2020, the official twitter account of the Pendik branch of the Ülkü Ocakları wrote: “We remember with mercy and gratitude the sixth anniversary of the martyrdom of our former president of the Giresun Ülkü Ocakları, the martyr of Turkmen Mountain. May his soul be glad and his place be paradise.”[31] The post included a graphic featuring a photo of Aynur standing on a car holding a rifle, the emblem of the Ülkü Ocakları, contact and social media information for the organization, and the name Metehan Yurtbaşı, who is the president of the Pendik branch of the Ülkü Ocakları.[32]
On March 24, 2018, Olcay Kılavuz, who is currently an MP for the MHP and was president of the entire Ülkü Ocakları organization from 2012 to 2018, wrote that Aynur had been president of the Giresun district branch of the Ülkü Ocakları, saying: “We commemorate with mercy and prayer the fourth anniversary of the martyrdom of our fellow man of the cause Selami Aynur, who had been president of the Giresun district branch of the Ülkü Ocakları. May his soul be glad and his place be paradise.” The post includes a graphic featuring a photo of Kılavuz praying at Aynur’s grave, as well as social media information for the Ülkü Ocakları and the group’s emblem.[33] Kılavuz made a similar post on March 24, 2015, a year after Aynur’s death.[34]
Kılavuz wrote a similar post on March 24, 2021.[35]
The Giresun branch of the Ülkü Ocakları commemorated Aynur’s death on March 23, 2021.[36]
Ibrahim Bozan, who is also affiliated with the Turkmen Agency, a small Syria-based news outlet focusing on news related to the Turkmens in Syria,[37] marked the seventh anniversary of Aynur’s death, and, tagging the main twitter account of the Ülkü Ocakları, wrote: “We want a cultural center in the name of Selami Aynur in the village of Havahüyük from @Ulku_Ocaklari.”[38] Havahüyük is the most significant Turkmen village in Aleppo province.
On June 12, 2017, during the month of Ramadan that year, local media reported that the Ülkü Ocakları had organized an iftar meal in honor of Selami Aynur in the Turkish town of Gemlik.[39] Those attending the iftar included Orhangazi Ülkü Ocakları President Gökmen İnce, Ülkü Ocakları Gemlik İlçe Başkanı Ali Yılmaz, who also gave the opening speech for the event, MHP district leader Mehmet Emin Özcanbaz, and MHP women’s division leader Hale Kapyalı.