3 more detained in ex-nationalist head’s murder

Three more suspects have been detained in the investigation launched into the assassination of the former head of the ultra-nationalist group, Grey Wolves, bringing the total number to 18.

Within the scope of the investigation carried out by the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor's Office, an arrest warrant was issued for T.D., E.Y. and S.Ö. The proceedings of the three suspects detained by the Ankara police are ongoing.

Two attackers on a motorcycle had shot Sinan Ateş, an academic from Hacettepe University, in the head as he was leaving a building in the capital Ankara last December. Ateş, seriously injured, could not be saved despite all the interventions in the hospital.

A total of 15 suspects, including special operations police officers Murat Can Çolak and Aşkın Mert Gelenbey, and Ufuk Köktürk, who were in the former Istanbul administration of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), were arrested previously as part of the investigation, while judicial control measures were applied to four suspects.

Doğukan Çep, claimed to be the instigator of the attack, was also nabbed late on Jan. 5, while the alleged shooter Eray Özyağcı has still not been caught.

The Grey Wolves, officially known by the name Idealist Hearths, or Ülkü Ocakları in Turkish, is a far-right youth organization and political movement affiliated with the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP).

Established by colonel Alparslan Türkeş in the late 1960s, it rose to prominence during the late 1970s political violence in Türkiye when its members engaged in urban warfare with left-wing militants and activists.