Alparslan Türkeş (Turkish pronunciation: [alˈpaɾsɫan tyɾˈceʃ]; 25 November 1917 – 4 April 1997) was a Turkish politician, who was the founder and president of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) and the Grey Wolves (Ülkü Ocakları). He ran the Grey Wolves training camps from 1968 to 1978. More than 600 people are said to have fallen victim of political murders by the Grey Wolves between 1968 and 1980. He represented the far-right of the Turkish political spectrum. He was and still is called Başbuğ ("Leader") by his devotees.
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👉 Alparslan Türkeş in the context of Nationalist Movement Party
The Nationalist Movement Party, or alternatively translated as Nationalist Action Party (Turkish: Milliyetçi Hareket Partisi, MHP), is a far-right, ultranationalist political party in Turkey. The party is neo-fascist and has been linked to violent paramilitaries and organized crime groups. The party's youth wing is the Grey Wolves (Bozkurtlar) organization, which is also known as the "Nationalist Hearths" (Ülkü Ocakları) which played one of the biggest roles during the political violence in Turkey in the 1970s.
The party was formed in 1969 by former Turkish Army colonel Alparslan Türkeş, who had become leader of the Republican Villagers Nation Party (CKMP) in 1965. He founded the party after criticizing the Republican People's Party (CHP) for moving too far away from the nationalist principles of their founder Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, claiming that he would not have founded the MHP had the CHP not deviated from Atatürk's ideology. The party mainly followed a Pan-Turkist and Turkish nationalist political agenda throughout the latter half of the 20th century. The MHP won enough seats in the 1973 and 1977 general election to take part in the "Nationalist Front" governments during the 1970s. The party was banned following the 1980 coup, but reestablished with its original name in 1993. After participating in a coalition government, in the 2002 general election, the MHP fell below the 10% election threshold and lost all of its parliamentary representation after the newly formed Justice and Development Party (AKP) won a plurality.
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Alparslan Türkeş in the context of Grey Wolves (organization)
The Grey Wolves (Turkish: Bozkurtlar), officially known by the short name Idealist Hearths (Turkish: Ülkü Ocakları, [ylcy odʒakɫaɾɯ]), is a Turkish far-right political movement and the youth wing of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP). Commonly described as ultranationalist, neo-fascist, Islamo-nationalist (sometimes secular), and racist, the Grey Wolves have been described by some scholars, journalists, and governments as a death squad and a terrorist organization. Its members deny its political nature and claim it to be a cultural and educational foundation, citing its full official name: Idealist Hearths Educational and Cultural Foundation (Turkish: Ülkü Ocakları Eğitim ve Kültür Vakfı).
Established by Colonel Alparslan Türkeş in the late 1960s, the Grey Wolves rose to prominence during the late 1970s political violence in Turkey when its members engaged in urban guerrilla warfare with left-wing militants and activists. Scholars hold it responsible for most of the violence and killings in this period, including the Maraş massacre in December 1978, which killed over 100 Alevis. They are also alleged to have been behind the Taksim Square massacre in May 1977, and to have played a role in the Kurdish–Turkish conflict from 1978 onwards. The attempted assassination of Pope John Paul II in 1981 by Grey Wolves member Mehmet Ali Ağca was never formally linked to Grey Wolves leaders, and the organization's role remains unclear.
Alparslan Türkeş in the context of Great Union Party
The Great Unity Party (Turkish: Büyük Birlik Partisi, BBP) is a far-right Sunni Islamist and ultranationalist political party in Turkey. It was created on 29 January 1993 by Muhsin Yazıcıoğlu, who broke off from the Nationalist Task Party (predecessor of the modern MHP) after a quarrel with Alparslan Türkeş. The BBP's youth wing is the Alperen Hearths.