03/05/2021 United States (International Christian Concern) – This week, members of the Armenian Bar Association sent a report to the UN Special Rapporteur on Contemporary Forms of Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia, and Related Intolerance regarding the Grey Wolves. The submission comes in response to a call for information by Special Rapporteur E. Tendayi Achiume to inform her upcoming report to the UN Human Rights Council on combatting the glorification of Nazism, neo-Nazism, and other practices that fuel contemporary forms of racism and related intolerance.
The Grey Wolves are an Islamic Turkish nationalist group whose aim is to restore the Pan-Turkism of the Ottoman Empire to the region. The group became notorious in the 20th century for its religious freedom violations, including a massacre of over 100 Alevis and an attempted assassination of Pope John Paul II. ICC has covered the hatred and violence of the Grey Wolves over the past couple months amid the fighting and aftermath of the recent conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh (Armenian: Artsakh).
The Grey Wolves see Armenian Christians as an obstacle to achieving their goals, and have thus continually committed brutal acts of violence against them, in ways remnant of the Armenian Genocide of the early 20th century. ICC further outlined the human rights violations of the Grey Wolves in Artsakh in its recent report, The Anatomy of Genocide: Karabakh’s Forty-Four Day War.
Lucy Varpetian, Chairwoman of Armenian Bar Association, praised the Special Rapporteur on the subject and felt optimistic about their submission. “In a time when ultra-nationalist policies propel discrimination and violence in many parts of the world, we applaud the Special Rapporteur’s commitment to receiving substantiated reports about the full scope of the threat of neo-Nazism and related practices,” said Vareptian.
Chairwoman Varpetian was featured on a recent ICC podcast, going more in-depth on the recent conflict, the history of Artsakh, and the threats of Pan-Turkic ideology facing the world.
The report concluded with a grim comparison, arguing that the Grey Wolves “should be understood as a dangerous ideology paralleling Nazism in form – in light of indications of state support – and in substance – in light of explicit calls for the eradication of certain ethnic groups.” The report continues, “Azerbaijan’s aggression towards Artsakh and its Armenians is both a recent manifestation of this dangerous ideology, and a warning of a disturbing, growing trend.”
ICC applauds the work of the Armenian Bar Association, and will continue to join them in condemning the actions of the Grey Wolves by engaging policymakers on the dangerous ambitions of the group.