Pro-Erdoğan group infiltrates Austria’s second largest party

Amira al-Sharif

An Austrian newspaper has revealed that the Grey Wolves organization, an arm of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, has succeeded in infiltrating the Social Democratic Party, the second largest political party in Austria.

It said the organization and the party have been nurturing close ties for over a decade now.

The members of the radical organization attacked a protest staged by Kurds in Vienna recently against fascism.

The ensuing clashes, in which stones and water bottles were used, prompted Austrian police to intervene.

The newspaper said growing relations between the Grey Wolves, on one hand, and the Social Democratic Party, on the other, have electoral objectives behind them.

It said most major political parties in Austria, including the ruling Austrian People’s Party, had failed in winning over Turkish votes in the past years.

The newspaper referred to a recent photo of Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz with a group of Turkish youth who made the salute of the Grey Wolves organization.

It said relations between the Grey Wolves and the Social Democratic Party are even stronger now.

The Turkish organization, the newspaper added, backs all the events the Social Democratic Party holds.

It added that the Grey Wolves organization puts a large poster of the head of the Social Democratic Party at the entrance of its premises in Vienna.

According to the newspaper, a large number of the senior officials of the Social Democratic Party visited the headquarters of the Grey Wolves in 2019.