As German federal elections approach on September 26, the candidates hoping to succeed Chancellor Angela Merkel are reiterating the need to thwart far-right extremism, particularly neo-Nazism, in Germany. In fact, the largest far-right extremist group in Germany is Turkish, not German, according to a new intelligence report on domestic threats to Germany’s constitutional order.
The Turkish neo-fascist movement Ülkücü (Turkish for “Idealists”) — popularly known as Grey Wolves — now has at least 11,000 active members in Germany, according to the new annual report (Verfassungsschutzbericht 2020) by Germany’s domestic intelligence agency (Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz, BfV).
