Turkish prosecutor rules non-suit over armed attack on opposition politician

A Turkish prosecutor in Ankara has ruled non-suit for two suspects linked to a  neo-nationalist  movement, who are accused of attacking a top opposition party official, news site Ankara Gazetecisi reported on Saturday.

The Future Party’s Selçuk Özdağ was violently attacked as he got into his car in Ankara on Jan. 15, a day after receiving threats from the deputy head of the far-right Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) against him.

Five men were taken into police custody over the incident. The prosecutor’s indictment called for the defendants, Abdurrahman Gülseren, Berke Aygün, Gülahmet Türk, Kadir Hukanoğlu and Muhammet Raşit Gürsoy, to be sentenced to nine years in prison for deliberate injury of Özdağ and up to five years for threatening his driver with a gun.

The indictment failed to mention the suspects’ affiliation with the Grey Wolves organization, an ultra-nationalist paramilitary movement affiliated with the MHP.

Europe has been cracking down on the ultranationalist Grey Wolves organization. France outlawed the Grey Wolves in early November, 2020, with the party being accused of “extremely violent” acts and intimidation by government spokesman Gabriel Attal. German opposition politicians have also called for a ban on the Grey Wolves, branded by the domestic security agency of the country as a far-right hardline party. A motion urging the Dutch government to prohibit the Grey Wolves and to urge the European Union to enforce a ban was supported in November last year by members of the Dutch Parliament.