Is the DAVA party mouthpiece for Erdogan? SPD MP Karaahmetoglu says: The party has little chance of success. DAVA already plays a role in the Turkish community, according to an expert.
Berlin – The construct with the resounding name DAVA is not yet really tangible – and yet it is already causing a stir: Could the Democratic Alliance for Diversity and Awakening function as an extension of Erdogan's AKP? Or even as a catch basin for the “gray wolves” and other extremists? What is certain is that DAVA has the ambition to establish itself as a new political party in Germany. However, it is still unclear in political Berlin how they want to deal with this and what role DAVA could play in the future. This became clear in a press conference on Wednesday evening, to which the SPD had invited.
New DAVA party: “There is no justification for this party”
“In my opinion, there is no justification for this party,” said Macit Karaamehtoglu, SPD member of the Bundestag and president of the German-Turkish Society and spokesman for his party in the German-Turkish parliamentary group. DAVA is committed to promoting integration and participation and would like to advocate for migrants. But: “We have enough parties in the current government that take care of their concerns,” said Karaamehtoglu. In addition, it comes into unnecessary competition with existing parties such as the Alliance of German Democrats (ADD), which is also primarily aimed at immigrants of Turkish origin.
Strengthening traditional values and protecting Islam: core themes of DAVA
Key themes in DAVA's election program: strengthening traditional values and protecting Islam. To this end, the party also wants to influence German education policy and correct “inappropriate representations of Islam and Muslims in school and history books” or replace them with “appropriate information”. There have recently been reports that the new party may be supported by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and could become his extended arm in Germany. However, Macit Karaamehtoglu believes this is unlikely: “Erdogan is pragmatic and DAVA's chances of success in elections are not good. I can't imagine what use that would be to him.” He thinks it's more likely that ex-national player Mesut Özil could become the face of DAVA advertising. He doesn't believe DAVA has much influence.
Gökay Sofuoglu, federal chairman of the Turkish community in Germany, has a different view of things: “There are representatives from Milli Görüs, Ditib and the Gray Wolves.” The Islamist movement Milli Görüs and the Ditib organization are close to Erdogan, as well the “Gray Wolves”, a kind of offshoot group of the right-wing extremist MHP, which cooperates with Erdogan’s AKP in the “People’s Alliance” electoral alliance in Turkey. Sofuoglu is of the opinion: “DAVA may not have high election results immediately, but the party will continue to get involved in the public discourse and influence it.” The upcoming European elections, in which DAVA wants to run, is a test: “The election campaign stands probably attended by many more people than those from the CDU or the SPD.”
Voting among people with dual citizenship
Macit Karaamehtoglu emphasized that the SPD wanted to win over exactly these people. It has been proven that the needs of immigrants are taken care of: “We have recently fulfilled a very old promise, namely dual nationality.” Meanwhile, the Union criticized the fact that dual citizenship now gives Erdogan the opportunity to have an AKP-affiliated one party to be represented in the Bundestag. In fact, DAVA could also try to win votes from people with double passports, suspects Gökay Sofuoglu. However, SPD politician Karaamehtoglu described the Union's allegations as “shabby”. “It is important to ensure that these people are closer to us than Erdogan and Turkey.” In order to achieve this, the structural disadvantage of immigrants must be ended: “That is exactly what we are taking care of. And the Union is doing the opposite.”
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