Is the DAVA party the extended arm of Erdogan? SPD MP Karaamehtoglu says: The party will have little influence. An expert sees it differently: He believes in influence through the back door.
Berlin – The structure is still barely tangible, but many people are already starting to get an uneasy feeling: DAVA is Erdogan's extended arm AKP? A gathering point for the Turkish “Gray Wolves” and other extremists? One thing is clear: The Democratic Alliance for Diversity and Awakening – in short DAVA – wants to establish itself as a new party in Germany. This has been causing a stir in political Berlin for days. However, it is unclear how this should be dealt with and what role DAVA can play in the future. This became clear on Wednesday evening at a press conference to which the SPD had invited.
Significance of the DAVA Party: Strengthening traditional values and protecting Islam
“In my view, there is no justification for this party,” said Macit Karaamehtoglu. The SPD member of the Bundestag is 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 wants to work for immigrants. But: “We have enough parties in the current government that take care of their concerns,” said Karaamehtoglu. It also competes with existing parties such as the Alliance of German Democrats (ADD), which is also aimed primarily at immigrants of Turkish origin.
Strengthening traditional values and protecting Islam are among the core issues in the DAVA election program. To this end, she 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”. Recently there were reports that the new party was headed by the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is supported and should become its extended arm in Germany. Macit Karaamehtoglu thinks 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.
Is DAVA party supported by Erdogan? “Party will influence public discourse”
The federal chairman of the Turkish community in Germany, Gökay Sofuoglu, sees it differently: “There are representatives from Milli Görüs, Ditib and the Gray Wolves.” The Islamist movement Milli Görüs and Ditib are close to Erdogan, as are they “Gray Wolves”, a kind of offshoot group of the right-wing extremist MHP, which is in coalition with Erdogan's AKP in Turkey. Sofuoglu believes: “DAVA may not have high election results immediately, but the party will continue to get involved in the public discourse and influence it.” The European elections, in which DAVA wants to take part, are a test: “The election campaign stands will probably be influenced by a lot attended by more people than those from the CDU or the SPD.”
Dual citizenship: SPD politician calls CDU/CSU accusation “shabby”
Macit Karaamehtoglu said that the SPD wanted to win over exactly these people. They have shown that they care about the issues of immigrants: “We have recently fulfilled a very old promise, namely dual nationality.” The Union had meanwhile complained that dual citizenship was now playing into Erdogan's hands, via an AKP -close party to be represented in the Bundestag. In fact, DAVA could also be looking for votes from people with a double pass, believes Gökay Sofuoglu. However, SPD politician Karaamehtoglu calls the Union’s allegations “shabby”.
“It is important to ensure that these people are closer to us than Erdogan and Turkey.” To do this, the structural discrimination against immigration must be ended: “That is exactly what we are taking care of. And the Union is doing the opposite.”
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