Turkey’s nationalist leader gets wolf head as birthday present

ANKARA

Turkey’s Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) chair Devlet Bahçeli has received a wolf head as birthday present.

Bahçeli met with people who wanted to congratulate his 71st birthday at his party’s headquarters in Ankara on Jan. 1.

Kayrat Turlıhanov, a former governor from Kazakhstan, brought a stuffed wolf head as present for Bahçeli, according to local media reports.

Taxidermy is the preserving of an animal’s body via mounting or stuffing for the purpose of display or study.

Dating back to “Asena” in the Oghuz Turkic foundation myth, the grey wolf is the symbol of Turkish nationalism.

Turkish nationalists also use a gesture symbolizing the head of a wolf, which is formed by placing the ring and middle fingers on the thumb.