Reports by the European Parliament (EP) that decry a lack of progress on Turkey’s human rights are hardly a novelty since the European Union’s only directly elected body undertook the task of penning annual “progress reports" on Turkey in the 1990s. Neither are Ankara’s claims that the report is biased and unfair, the “toughest report ever." Yet this year's report, penned by Spanish Socialist Nacho Sanchez Amor, has ventured where no EP report has gone before: It suggested putting Turkey’s Grey Wolves, an ultra-right group linked to the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), the government's alliance partner, on the EU terror list.
The parliament called on the European Council, the decision-making body of the union, and the member states to “examine the possibility of adding Grey Wolves to the EU terrorist list.” The list includes four groups from Turkey: the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), the Kurdistan Freedom Falcons (TAK), the Sunni Salafist Great Islamic Eastern Warriors (IBDA-C) and the Revolutionary People's Liberation Army/Front/Party (DHKP-C).