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Murder of former Grey Wolves leader divides Turkey’s nationalists 

Questions raised this week about the December shooting of Sinan Ates have placed Erdogan’s allied MHP party under the spotlight as elections loom.

Erdogan Bahceli
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (R) shakes hands with Turkish Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) Leader Devlet Bahceli in Ankara, Turkey on Aug. 30, 2022. — ADEM ALTAN/AFP via Getty Images

ISTANBUL — The murder of a prominent Turkish nationalist nearly a month ago has cast a shadow over politics, with the scandal threatening to engulf the ruling party’s ally as the country prepares for elections in May.

Sinan Ates was shot dead as he left his office in Ankara’s Cankaya district on Dec. 30 by a gunman on a motorcycle. The 38-year-old was a former president of the Ulku Ocaklari, better known as the Grey Wolves, an ultra-nationalist group tied to the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) and long associated with political violence. 

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