When the badly battered North Rhine-Westphalian Social Democrats in Münster at the end of the month, after a long struggle, clarify the successor to the resigned state chairman Thomas Kutschaty, interim party leader Marc Herter does not want to throw his hat in the ring.
As chairman of the important SPD region of western Westphalia and an experienced networker, the self-confident mayor of Hamm will continue to play a key role in the new leadership circle of the largest SPD state association. Also because some comrades rumor that Herter wants to become prime minister in the state elections in four years, the mayor of Hammer is more in the media focus than other local politicians.
All the more astonishing is a faux pas that has now become known by the currently most important representative of the North Rhine-Westphalian SPD. As first “Zeit online” reported in a meticulously researched articlethe 49-year-old Herter took part in Aslan A.’s birthday party in Hamm in June.
Gray wolves have around 12,000 followers in Germany
A. was at least a few years ago a leading member of the Turkish Gray Wolves group and still openly sympathizes on social media with the right-wing extremist group observed by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, whose political parent organization MHP in Turkey is a close ally of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s AKP. In Germany, the association has around 300 cultural, sports, parent or business associations under harmless names.
As early as 2004, the North Rhine-Westphalian Office for the Protection of the Constitution warned that the gray wolves are contributing to the emergence of parallel societies and that their self-image necessarily means that they are an obstacle to integration. The Gray Wolves call themselves “Ülkücü” (Idealists). They dream of an ethnically homogeneous empire called “Turan” under the leadership of the Turks, fantasize about a Turkish master race and see Kurds, Alevis, Armenians, Greeks and everyone else who is not Turkish-Sunni as traitors who will kill their blood are fighting.
A response from the federal government to a parliamentary question shows that the Turkish right-wing extremists have recently tried to influence the formation of public opinion – for example by standing as candidates in the North Rhine-Westphalian local elections in 2020. The security authorities expect the Gray Wolves to have around 12,000 supporters in this country to.
Individual functionaries of the Ditib mosque association, which is controlled from Turkey, and even German Turks, who have long been considered to be optimally integrated, freely admit their closeness. Just a few days ago, former national soccer player Mesut Özil appeared on social media with one of the symbols of the Gray Wolves, which he apparently had tattooed on his chest.
Hammer Aslan A. also makes no secret of his closeness to the Gray Wolves. Again and again A. posts photos of people showing the greeting of the Turkish right-wing extremists – the raised right hand shaped into a wolf’s head. “Was it ignorance, naivety or calculation to score points in the Turkish nationalist milieu?” It said in the “Zeit” article – which Herter rejected indignantly. “It is absurd to accuse me of being close to Turkish right-wing extremism. The story is far-fetched.” Anyone who knows him knows that he has spent his entire political life fighting right-wing extremism, racism and xenophobia, regardless of the origin of the respective nationalists.
Herter’s predecessor also sought contact with the community
On June 28, he was invited to Aslan A. on the occasion of the sacrifice festival, Herter told the FAZ. “Both to break the fast in Ramadan and on the occasion of the Feast of the Sacrifice, I am a regular guest in Muslim communities as well as private individuals as mayor.” In fact, Herter’s predecessor Thomas Hunsteger-Petermann (CDU) also sought intensive contact with the Turkish community. Around eight percent of Hammer citizens have Turkish roots, and their votes can make the difference in council and mayoral elections.
It was only that evening that he realized that the date on June 28 was host Aslan A.’s birthday party. “And if I had known about Mr. A.’s connection to the ‘Grey Wolves’, I would not have attended the celebration. This also applies to future invitations.” One of his most important tasks as mayor is to always be in dialogue with the people. “I cannot and do not want to regularly check everyone’s political views before contacting citizens.”
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