Armenian Genocide Memorial In Lyon Is Vandalised With Pro Erdogan Graffiti As France Seeks To Ban Turkish Far Right 'Grey Wolves' Movement

An Armenian Genocide Memorial in France has been desecrated with pro-Erdogan graffiti. The memorial was built to remember those that died in the Ottoman Empire led genocide of Armenians between 1915 and 1923 in which 1.5 million Armenians were killed.

The attack took place in the city of Lyon, where the initials RTE were spray painted onto the building, believed to stand for 'Recep Tayyip Erdoğan' the current Turkish president. Symbols related to the far-right fascist 'Gray Wolves' were also found nearby.

The Centre National de la Mémoire Arménienne (Armenian National Memory Center), which is based in Lyon, said of the hate crime:

"A complaint will be lodged following this abject act, concerning the memory of the French-Armenians. We call on French-Armenian citizens not to give in to provocations and to not answer this type of hate call."

It has also been reported that pro-Turkish and pro-Armenian elements in Lyon were engaged in a violent scuffle earlier in the week.

The Gray Wolves organisation is an ultra-nationalist anti-leftist group that originated in Turkey in the late 1960s. It is famed for its violent attacks on left-wingers and ethnic minorities living in Turkey, mostly Kurds and Armenians. While it claims to be a peaceful civic organisation, its members have been jailed for murder and terror offences including, one member being convicted in 1981 of the shooting of the then Pope, John Paul II.

Scholars have often referred to the organisation as a 'death squad'.

Turkish President Recep Erdogan has been seen giving the hand gesture salute of the Gray Wolves on many occasions at rallies and nationalistic events.

The graffiti was likely fuelled by the ongoing hostilities between France and Turkey. In particular, over the two countries taking opposing sides in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, with France siding with Armenia and Turkey siding with Azerbaijan. The two countries are also at loggerheads over the Eastern Mediterranean and the Libyan civil war, with France sending its navy into the Eastern Mediterranean to deter Turkish incursions into Greek and Cypriot waters and to stop Turkish arms shipments to Libya.

In response to the graffiti and the heightened tensions, France now says it will outlaw the Gray Wolves organisation, designating it as an illegal group. It is part of a wider crack down on extremism in France following multiple violent attacks by Islamic extremists in recent weeks, including the beheading of a teacher by a Chechen refugee, the shooting of a Greek Orthodox Priest, and the stabbing to death of 3 people outside a church in Nice.