Germany’s federal parliament has approved a motion proposing a ban on Turkish organizations linked to the so-called Gray Wolf movement, following a precedent set in France, reports said Thursday.

The Bundestag issued a motion entitled “Against nationalism and racism, suppressing the effects of the Gray Wolf movement” prepared by the united parties of the Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU) and the Christian Social Union in Bavaria (CSU), as well as the German Social Democratic Party ( SPD), the Free Democratic Party (FDP), and the Green Party.

The motion included taking action to prevent and suppress the spread of the Gray Wolf movement in Europe, the German government tracking its activities, banning associated associations and opposing online propaganda to inform the public and institutions of the movement’s goals.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Home Affairs, which has the prerogative to close down organizations and associations, has not yet commented on the matter.

Earlier this month, Turkey’s Foreign Ministry criticized France’s controversial move to ban the group, saying there was no such organization or movement.

France’s “imaginary decision”, as if such a movement existed, was “the final manifestation of the country’s contradictory psychology,” the ministry said.

However, he added, it is unacceptable to ban cultural symbols used in many countries of the world, which are very common and have no illegal dimension.

About 6 million Turks live in European countries.

Germany, a country of more than 82 million people, has the second largest Muslim population in Western Europe after France. Among the country’s nearly 4.7 million Muslims, 3 million are from Turkey. Germans of Turkish origin have been a part of German society for nearly three decades. In 1961, Turkey and Germany signed a recruitment agreement, allowing Turkish citizens to work in Germany as guest workers.

These Turks, mostly descendants of the country’s “guest workers” who came to help with the post-World War II development boom, often complain of racist attacks and a lack of follow-up in police investigations for such incidents.

Germany has seen an increase in anti-Muslim hate crimes in recent years fueled by hate propaganda by right-wing parties.

The number of attacks targeting the Turkish minority in France has also increased recently. Last month, members of the Armenian community injured four Turks demonstrating on the A7 highway connecting Lyon and Marseille.

Rising Islamophobia, racism and xenophobia in Europe threatens the safety of some 5 million Turks living in European countries, according to Deputy Foreign Minister Yavuz Selim Kıran.