A Turkish neo-Nazi faction linked to the National Intelligence Agency

A neo-nationalist faction of Turkey's intelligence agency, MIT, is believed to be behind a newly formed far-right group that adheres to Hitler's national-socialist ideology, promotes the supremacy of Turkish ethnic origin and is committed to fighting non-Turkish ethnicities.

Mainly organized among youth from various Turkish provinces and across Europe, the group operates under the name National Front Party (Ulusal Cephe Partisi), despite its unofficial status, and is led by Onurcan Koak, a former soldier and engineer in mechanics of 24 years.

The group was launched on May 19, 2022, a symbolic date marking the 104th anniversary of the start of the Turkish War of Independence by the founder of modern Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Atatrk, in 1919. It aspires to become Turkey's national socialist party , like the Turkish National Socialist Party. Nazi Party in Hitler's Germany.

Although it has only about a thousand followers, the group has the resources to carry out provocative street actions, including protests, vandalism, graffiti, banners and even weapons training. He actively promotes Nazi ideology, circulating Turkish-translated quotes from Hitler and other leaders of Nazi Germany, while frequently targeting Jews, Arabs, and Africans with hostile rhetoric.

The group designates minority ethnic groups as enemies, including Jews, Arabs, Kurds, Russians, Ukrainians and blacks.

The group publicly aligned itself with the racist and anti-immigrant Victory Party (Zafer Partisi), led by Mit Zda, a Turkish intelligence agent who has for some time maintained a secret alliance with the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

The Victory Party played a key role in dividing the opposition in Turkey's last elections, shaping the national debate by focusing on the Syrian refugee community. It has become a political outlet for disaffected voters who might otherwise have supported the main opposition parties. His position on many issues has greatly benefited President Erdogan.

In last year's presidential and parliamentary elections, the Victory Party, contesting for the first time, received 1.2 million votes, or 2.23 percent of the total vote nationwide, which could have propelled the opposition bloc to victory if it had not been siphoned off by the party. Meanwhile, the Turkish media, dominated and controlled by the government, opened its doors to Zda, allowing him to communicate his party's ideology to the masses with the apparent approval of the Edogan regime.

Unlike the Victory Party, the National Front Party, as an illegal and unregistered organization, operates with greater freedom to intensify anti-immigrant rhetoric in Turkey. Its members openly admire Hitler, use Nazi symbols, train in firearms, and organize protests and acts of vandalism. Although some members have been involved in violent incidents, they have faced little or no real consequences in the criminal justice system.

The group designates minority ethnic groups as enemies, including Jews, Arabs, Kurds, Russians, Ukrainians and blacks.

Some members of the group were arrested as part of an investigation into the beating of Kurds during the Bursaspor-Diyarbakrspor match on December 20, 2023, but they were later released. On February 4, 2024, the group hung a banner reading The Only Truth is Yellow [body] bag on a fence in front of the office of the pro-Kurdish Party for People's Equality and Democracy (DEM), issuing death threats against Kurdish politicians.

On April 25, 2024, members of the group vandalized the DEM party building in Adana province.

Those who love shit-faced, unevolved primitive (black) beings should either go to Africa or wait for the day we shave their hair and let them walk the streets on a leash, the group posted on December 6, 2023 on his Telegram channel in response. to a road accident in which Mohammed Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, the son of the Somali president, collided with a motorcycle, resulting in the death of the driver in November 2023.

The National Front vehemently opposed interracial and mixed marriages, taking inspiration from Hitler's Germany in its rhetoric against African people. The group advocates sending children from these marriages to concentration camps and stripping them of their citizenship. In Nazi Germany, Africans, especially those born after the occupation of the Rhineland by French colonial troops, were persecuted. In his writings, Hitler described children born from unions with African soldiers as a contamination of the white race, blaming the Jews for their presence in Germany.

The group also targets Turks who marry Jews. In a job on The Jews will soon no longer know how to laugh.

In a clear sign that its members can easily resort to violence, the National Front advocates for arming citizens and shares videos showing members training in the use of firearms on shooting ranges. The group asserts that gun ownership is both a right and a duty for every patriotic Turk, necessary to protect Turkish ethnicity. A message posted on Telegram on July 15, 2024 stated: Every Turkish child must learn to use a gun and be prepared to protect their ethnicity.

They are demanding that Turkish women have more children, offering monetary rewards for each newborn, marriage credits and incentives for women who give birth to between four and eight babies. They say this is the only way to address the stagnation of Turkey's population.

They promoted their ideology on social media platforms such as X and Telegram, with 1,289 people. subscribers on X and 1,191 subscribers on their Telegram channel as of September 21. Additionally, they publish an online magazine called Altay Mecmua.

The group has two specific channels, Legitimate nation And Hitler Trkeit states, are for educational purposes and often feature videos, speeches and comments by Hitler, generally derogatory content about Jews and even videos of lynchings by the Ku Klux Klan. He cites Hitler's remarks that Atatrk was a teacher; Mussolini was his first and I his second student, as research by Harvard historian Stefan Ihrig has revealed.

Their flag has in its center a wolf's head, an emblematic symbol of nationalist groups in Türkiye, in a design resembling the Nazi flag. They also use a symbol inspired by the Reichsadler (imperial eagle) of Nazi Germany, which originally included a swastika.

Members wear red, white and black striped armbands with a wolf's head, reminiscent of those used by young Nazis. In photos shared on social media, some members wave Nazi flags adorned with swastikas, while others display their adopted symbols. They also greet each other with the Nazi salute, commonly known as the Hitler salute or Sieg Heil salute.

The group claims to adhere to what it calls Otonom Pasif Mcadele, or autonomous passive resistance, to ensure its survival while buying time to recruit new members. If a member practices Autonomous Passive Resistance, they are motivated to cause harm to enemy elements through the smallest, least risky actions imaginable, while also seeking to establish themselves within the organization and reinforce a sense of of trust, explains the group.

As part of this strategy, the group paints graffiti on public walls, vandalizes banners and signs promoting the integration of migrant communities, and organizes protests in front of foreign consulates.

There have been alarming instances of how neo-Nazi ideology can incite violence in Türkiye. A manifesto published by neo-Nazi Arda Kkyetim, 18, before he carried out a stabbing attack in an Eskiehir cafe bore striking similarities to the ideology of the National Front. Kkyetim likened his targets to insects that had to be cleaned from the earth, echoing banners displayed by the National Front that urged Turks to avoid cockroaches, a derogatory term for non-Turks.

Politically, I could be described as a National Socialist, but in this Jewish-controlled system and society, that does not seem possible, the attacker said in his manifesto. When he was apprehended by police, he was found carrying two knives and an axe, as well as a face mask and tactical vest emblazoned with a neo-Nazi symbol.

Turkish authorities downplayed the incident, quickly securing a silence to prevent media coverage and attributing the attack to violent video games.

The group's leader, Koak, was allegedly recruited by the intelligence agency MIT while enrolled at the Army War School (Kara Harp Okulu), part of the National Defense University that trains officers elite staff of the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK). After serving two years in the army, he left to found the far-right group. He openly says that Hitler is a role model for him.

The lack of serious repression against this group by the Erdogan government, despite numerous criminal complaints filed throughout the country for inciting hatred, violence and discrimination based on race, religion, gender or group social, suggests that he is protected by powerful entities within Turkey. government institutions.

The intelligence agencies' goal appears to be to use the group as a conduit to carry out a future social engineering project, helping to shape national discourse, maintain a climate of fear and send a message to Turkish partners when appropriate. necessary by taking advantage of this marginal group.

Originally published as Unmasking Turkey's intelligence-linked neo-Nazi group National Front.