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German village votes to keep ‘Hitler bell’

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Hitler bell

Hitler bell

Councilors in Herxheim am Berg in southwest Germany have voted to keep a controversial Nazi-era bell hanging at a local church. Some residents feared it could become a draw for far-right groups.

In a vote on Monday night, the local council in a small southwestern German village decided by 10 votes to 3 that a Nazi-era bell — complete with the inscription “Everything for the Fatherland – Adolf Hitler” — should continue to hang in the local church and be put back in use.

Councilors in Herxheim am Berg, 50 kilometers (30 miles) northwest of Heidelberg, said the bell, which also bears a swastika, should serve as a force for reconciliation and a memorial against violence and injustice.

Read more: Is it illegal to call someone a Nazi?

The council rejected calls by some residents for the bell to be dismantled or put in a museum. They also turned down an offer by the local Protestant church to bear the cost of installing a new one.

Herxheim am Berg Mayor Georg Welker told reporters that it was better the bell remained in the church “than if it would hang in some museum where someone could stand in front of the bell at any time and take a selfie.”

Resident spoke out

The contentious bronze bell has been in the church since 1934, where it was used until recently. Its existence only became known when a former church organist, Sigrid Peters, complained about the inscription.

Following the council vote, Peters told DW she was deeply concerned about the signal the council was sending about Germany to the rest of the world.

She said she was deeply saddened “that this could happen, that they allow a bell dedicated to a murderer to hang in the church.”

For Peters, the council’s decision to keep and use the Nazi-era bell and the electoral success of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) aren’t a coincidence.

How to deal with Nazi past

The large bell sparked an intense debate about how Germany should deal with Nazi symbols. Many residents were concerned the bronze relic would ruin the church’s reputation, or that its existence would encourage neo-Nazi groups to congregate in the village.

Others complained that its removal would mean the town’s history would be covered up.

The dispute intensified when the town’s then mayor, Roland Becker, argued that not everything was bad during the Nazi era — comments that forced his resignation.

Additional reporting by Ralf Bosen.

Martin Schulz, leader of Germany’s Social Democrats in profile

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Martin Schulz

Martin Schulz

The SPD chief has made a major U-turn. After initially ruling out another grand coalition with Angela Merkel’s conservatives, the former European Parliament president could now set to be the new German foreign minister.

Martin Schulz, the Social Democratic Party (SPD) leader about to sign another coalition deal with Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU), is no stranger to the vagaries of political fortune.

The man who once failed to graduate from high school, only to rise to the European parliament presidency, has led his party to historic lows in the German opinion polls – and yet now looks set to take on a top ministerial post in Merkel’s next cabinet as the new German foreign minister, according to reports from the DPA news agency and the Bild newspaper.

Schulz has deep roots in the small city of Würselen just north of Aachen in the far west of Germany. He served the city of 38,000 as mayor for 11 years from 1987 until 1998, and still has a home there today. After gaining a qualification in bookselling in his youth, he also ran a bookshop with his sister, and once described reading as an “elixir of life” that helped him through a dark period in his youth.

But despite his local public service, Schulz was always known more as a European politician than a domestic one. He joined the European parliament in 1994, rising to leader of the SPD’s national group in Europe and the head of the EU socialists’ block. He was the socialists’ leading candidate in the 2014 European election, and ended up serving as the president of the European Parliament from 2012 to 2017.

It was only after this precipitous rise that he returned to Germany early last year to accept his party leadership and the candidacy to challenge Chancellor Angela Merkel in September’s election.

‘I was a pig’

Born in 1955 as the son of a policeman, Schulz was the youngest of five children. He dreamed of a career as a football player, but a knee injury put an end to those aspiration,— a blow that led him to alcoholism in his late teens and failure to complete high school. In the mid-1970s, at 20, he was unemployed for a year.

Today, Schulz speaks openly about his past: “I was a pig, and not a very nice student,” he once said.

But he was also active in the SPD throughout, and rose to become his city’s mayor at the age of 32 — the youngest city leader in all of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Schulz has also been a member of the SPD’s national party leadership since 1999, serving on the executive board and executive committee. He has been known to proudly stress that his 18 years there make him the party’s “oldest serving member.

Germany grants asylum to four former Turkish military forces amid soured ties

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Turkish paramilitary police and members of the special forces escort former Air Force Commander Akin Ozturk and other suspects of the 2016 failed coup, outside the courthouse at the start of a trial, in the capital Ankara, on August 1, 2017. (AP photo)

Germany has granted asylum to four former Turkish military forces, including one whom Ankara accuses of assuming a leading role in the country’s 2016 failed coup, amid ongoing tensions between the two countries.  

Turkey accuses former Turkish colonel and then head of the Ankara military academy Ilham P., whose surname cannot be disclosed under the German law, of being a leader of the coup, weekly magazine Der Spiegel reported.

Germany’s Interior Ministry said it cannot provide comment with regard to the issue for protection of data and privacy of individuals.

Ties between Turkey and Germany soured over a host of issues after the July 2016 coup attempt against the government in Turkey, with Berlin critical of Ankara’s post-coup crackdown and the arrest of German citizens in Turkey.

In early January, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu visited Germany following months of dispute between the two countries. During the trip, Cavusoglu and his German counterpart Sigmar Gabriel agreed to devote all efforts to mending bilateral ties.

Turkey, which remains in a state of emergency since the coup, has been engaged in suppressing the media and opposition groups suspected to have played a role in the failed coup.

In the post-coup crackdown, Turkey has suspended or dismissed more than 150,000 judges, policemen, teachers, and civil servants and arrested over 55,000 others.

Turkey has accused Germany of harboring “terrorist” organizations opposed to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

The two countries have also clashed over Germany’s alleged support for Kurdish opponents of the Turkish government and its opposition to a controversial referendum in Turkey in April 2017, which gave Erdogan new sweeping powers. German authorities at the time prevented some pro-Erdogan campaigns in the country, a move that infuriated the Turkish president.

One of the disputes between Ankara and Berlin revolves around Turkey’s arrest of several Germans. Germany believes Turkey has detained seven Germans, four of whom have dual nationalities, for political reasons.

Germany-Turkey economic cooperation has also been hit as a result of the tense political relations.

Germany is Turkey’s biggest trade partner, but in the first nine months of 2017, the European country’s exports to Turkey dropped by about six percent.

Afrin operation in German parliament debated “Turkey’s argument is false”

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Germany Afrin debated

Germany Afrin debated

Afrin’s operations in Turkey were discussed in the German Parliament. All parties described the operation as contrary to international law. The opposition criticized the German government for not reacting hard to the campaign.

At the request of the Left Party in the German parliament’s military operation against Syria’s Afrin in northwest Turkey were discussed. Politicians from all parties described the Afrin campaign as contrary to international law.

Christian Union (CSU / CSU), speaking parties name Roderich Kiesewetter, is not an attack on Turkey and Afrin operation is not planned such an attack “against international law” as he expressed the need to değerlendirdiril. Kiesewetter defending the stance of the German government in Berlin “Turkey to stop the support of the modernization of the equipment and tanks he gave to the “said the decision was correct.

German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel said in a statement last week, the decision on issues such as modernization of Turkey said that it would be sold in the tank to be established by the government.

Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party Kiesewetter, said would not be enough to solve the problem of symbolic politics, he said Turkey’s Afrin operations need to be addressed in NATO and the United Nations system.

Social Democratic Party (SPD), said that Dagmar Freitag share the same opinion with Kiesewetter, Afrin’s campaign “is incompatible with international law,” he said. Freitag, Turkey increase tensions in the region of the operation pointed at risk.

Afrin protest from the Left Party

Turkey’s military operations Afrin speaking of MPs from the opposition parties on the grounds that the session discussed as well as the condemnation of Ankara enough to show a strong response criticized the German government.

Katja Kipping, co-chairman of the Left Party, dismissed the Afghan operation of the Turkish Armed Forces and reacted to the German government’s failure to make a statement condemning the operation.

“The Turkish army is killing civilians in Afrin, but Prime Minister Angela Merkel is also silent,” Kipping said.

German government, calling out, “Your silence, Erdogan is to kneel in front. Put an end to this silence,” said the Left Party politician, “stop any military cooperation with Turkey planned” made the call.

Yellow for protesting against the Left Party in Turkey Afrin operation of some lawmakers, while wearing green and red colors shawls were caused to react in the Bundestag. German Parliament Speaker Wolfgang Kubicki, who oversaw the session, reminded parliament that the protest was forbidden and asked the MPs to remove the sailors.

Fdp’l Assignee: Turkey’s argument is false

As well as the Green Left Party also reiterated its call for an end to arms exports to Turkey. Green Keulen Katja speaking on behalf of the party, “the German government from banning of Turkey with all kinds of weapons exports,” he said they demanded. Keulen, said what the military action against Turkey to Syria in his speech that self-defense is nor approved by the UN. The “international law contrary, “Keul said,” Our expectation from the Alma government is that it is expressed clearly. “

Free Democratic Party (FDP), the lawmaker Bijan Dj-Sarai north Syria condemns Turkey’s military operations. Instead of fighting against terrorism in the said operation “of the Kurds in all kinds of methods to destroy its influence in this region,” arguing that used Dj-Sarai, Germany, Turkey’s stance is “obliged to condemn,” he said.

What’s Turkey’s Afrin operation NATO nor the United Nations (UN) stated that approved by the Free Democratic Party politician, Turkey’s “argument in the direction of self-defense” and “fake” as well as “presumptuous” as described. In this framework, both the German government and NATO must condemn this operation.

Dj-Sarai, the European Union (EU) carried out with the full membership of Turkey has also demanded an end to müzareke.

Alternative for Germany (AFD) Rüdiger Lucassen also speaking on behalf of the party, said that Turkey should end its membership talks with the EU. Lucassen also criticized the speech in Germany’s arms exports to Turkey.

DW, AFP, KNA / JD,

Germany: Spiegel editor’s Klaus Brinkbäumer Twitter account hacked to post pro-Turkey message

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The Twitter account of Spiegel editor-in-chief Klaus Brinkbäumer has been hacked and used to apologize for bad news published about Turkey. The magazine has published extensively on Turkey and its relations with Germany.

The Twitter account of Klaus Brinkbäumer, editor-in-chief of Der Spiegel magazine, was hacked late on Saturday and used to post a pro-Turkey message.

Hackers posted a picture of the Turkish president and flag alongside a message in Turkish and German: “We would like to apologize for the bad news that we have reported and published up till now about Turkey and [President] Recep Tayyip Erdogan.”

Soon after, Spiegel issued a tweet of its own to explain what had happened, saying that Brinkbäumer’s “most recent tweet about Erdogan and the header are not from him. We’re taking care of it.”

The pinned tweet was removed after about two hours. It was unclear who was behind the attack.

Critical reporting

Spiegel has carried many articles on Turkey, in print and on both its German and English websites.

In September, it reported on an espionage trial in Hamburg which raised questions about the Turkish government’s intelligence activities in Germany. “Ankara may even be trying to eliminate its political opponents,” Spiegel noted at the time.

The news site has also reported on the case of Turkish-German journalist Deniz Yücel, who has been held in pre-trial detention in Turkey on terror charges since last February.

Erdogan to release Journalist Yücel, Germany to provide arms in return

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A dirty deal has been found to be sought over journalist Deniz Yücel, who is imprisoned by the Erdogan regime. Speaking before talks with Çavuşoğlu, German Foreign Minister said, “If Deniz Yücel is released, we’ll give approval to arms exports to Turkey.”

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Çavuşoğlu will be arriving in Germany today to meet with counterpart Sigmar Gabriel. Çavuşoğlu is expected to make fresh negotiations with the Merkel government in a visit to the German town of Goslar, Gabriel’s hometown, as part of a return visit to Antalya last November.

Before the visit, Gabriel gave an important statement for the German citizens held hostage by the Erdogan regime. Speaking to the new issue of the weekly Der Spiegel, the Social Democratic Party (SPD) politician made the following appeal to Ankara:

“Turkey is a NATO member and our partner in the fight against IS (Islamic State). Despite this, the federal government does not give its approval to the many arms exports to Turkey. This situation will not change until the Deniz Yücel case reaches a solution.”

Noting that the situation of German prisoners in Turkey is important for Germany, Minister Gabriel stressed that “Relations between both countries will not improve as long as we are not in dialogue with each other,” hinting that the doors were open for deals.

Maria Adebahr, the spokeswoman of the German Foreign Ministry, made assessments on the visit of Çavuşoğlu at a press conference in Berlin yesterday. Stating that the visits were a mark of effort by the two sides to improve relations, the spokeswoman noted that the two ministers’ meeting would address a number of issues. The spokeswoman said that the situation of Germans jailed in Turkey were at the forefront of these talks.

After the release of Peter Steudtner, a human rights activist among the Erdogan regime’s prisoners, on October 25, the Berlin-Ankara friendly relationship period resumed. Followed by the release of Meşale Tolu and finally David Britsch, the number of German citizens arrested in Turkey for political reasons in recent years has fallen to seven. However, what has been received in exchange for the release of German hostages by the Erdogan government is nont disclosed to the public.

After Gabriel’s words, it is understood that the hostages will be exchanged for weapons. Gabriel announced in September last year that Turkey had applied many times to buy weapons from Germany, before being rejected. Gabriel had said “Turkey’s arms requests are pending” and so for the first time it has emerged that a NATO country rejected the arms request of another NATO country.

ARMS SALES DIDN’T STOP, REDUCED INSTEAD

In Germany, the government must approve the foreign sales of arms companies. During this time, however, despite the tensions and crisis between the Merkel government and the Erdogan regime, Germany continues to trade arms with the Turkish state. In the first four months of 2017 alone the Turkish army bought weapons and ammunition worth 5,600,000 euros from German weapon companies.

This information was revealed by the German Ministry of Economics last August, in response to a parliamentary question concerning the arms trade with Turkey from the Left Party. Last year, German arms company Rheinmetall was found to have produced 7 billion euros worth a thousand panzers in Turkey. In November 2015, Erdoğan’s photographs from the invitation of Rheinmetall’s managers to his palace for this matter were also circulated in the press.

However, it appears that the Erdogan regime is seeking dirty deals over the jailed Die Welt Turkey correspondent Deniz Yücel, who was detained in Istanbul on February 2017. Yücel was taken into custody on February 14 in the Istanbul Security Directorate, where he went to testify under the investigation carried out on the news reports of Turkish Energy and Natural Resources Minister Berat Albayrak’s e-mails.

While deemed by Erdogan as a “PKK member” and “German agent”, Yücel, who is still waiting for an indictment, was kept in isolation for months. After the German police attacked the Kurds in Dusseldorf on November 4 and the unofficial meeting of Gabriel and Çavuşoğlu in Antalya the same day, Yücel was transferred from the single cell.

German Ministry Confirms Connection Between Violent Gang And Turkish Gov’t

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Turkish Gang

Germany’s North Rhine-Westphalian Ministry of Interior has confirmed that they have been assessing the relations between a violent Turkish gang group, which is in guise of a rocker club, and the Turkish government under the rule of autocratic President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

A ministry spokesman has spoken to Kölner Stadt-Anzeige newspaper and said that they are assessing the relations between right-wing group Osmanen Germania and the Turkish government. “The “rocker-like” organization of Turkish nationalists that takes right-wing extremist positions maintain contacts with the “Erdoğan regime in the broadest sense,” the spokesman said.

Photos on the internet have proved personal contacts of leading members of the rapidly growing group in North Rhine-Westphalian (NRW) with representatives of Turkey’s Islamist ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP)

Sebastian Fiedler of the Bund Deutscher Kriminalbeamter in NRW told the newspaper that even after nationwide raids it can be assumed that the Ottoman Germania would continue to receive “fresh money and backing from Ankara.”

On suspicion of money laundering, drug trafficking and weapon possession offences, the police had also acted against the group in NRW.

German media has previously reported on early December 2017 that Metin Külünk, a henchman of Turkish autocratic President Erdoğan and the ruling AKP deputy, gave order to the Turkish gang “Osmanen Germania – Ottomans Germania” and the Union of European-Turkish Democrats (UETD) to punish German TV presenter and comedian Jan Böhmermann over his alleged insult in a show targeting Erdoğan.

German newspaper Stuttgarter Nachrichten wrote that Böhmermann has been targeted by the Ottomans Germania, a Germany-based Turkish gang which is a staunch supporter of  Erdoğan and the Erdoğan confidants, including Metin Külünk, ordered the thugs for punishment of the ZDF presenter.

Deutsche Welle (DW) also reported that in one tapped phone conversation, Külünk urged the former head of the UETD in Mannheim, Yılmaz Ilkay Arın, to get Osmanen Germania to punish German comedian Jan Böhmermann for his controversial poem criticizing Erdoğan.

“Osmanen Germania” describes itself as a boxing club and “brotherhood,” but authorities have long suspected it of being involved in criminal activity and violence. It is estimated to have 20 chapters and 2,500 members in Germany.

The Stuttgarter Nachrichten reported that the network of Erdoğan-related Turkish gang in Germany also turned against the ZDF presenter Böhmermann last year and Böhmermann was targeted by both the gang of Ottoman Germania, Erdoğan’s AKP and its extension in Europe, Union of European-Turkish Democrats (UETD).

According to a report, German police determined a phone call made by Yılmaz İlkay Arın, then acting chairman of the UETD in the Mannheim, to a Turkish migrants living in Germany. During the conversation, he made it clear that he accepted the orders given by an Erdoğan’s friend and AKP deputy Külünk. “My boss is Metin Külünk. I do what he tells me,” he said.

The report has also said that, at 16:33 on April 6, 2016, Külünk reportedly telephoned a member of the UETD in Germany. The man had asked Külünk to mobilize more UETD supporters to file criminal charges against Jan Böhmermann for insulting Erdoğan.

According to the report, the German security investigators come to a conclusion that “The orders to the Ottoman Germania group illustrates the intentions of the Turkish government to influence the media landscape, freedom of speech and press in Germany, among other purposes, with the active support of the UETD and the thugs of the Ottomans Germania.”

Basing on the German security agencies’ intelligence reports and wiretaps, Stuttgarter Nachrichten wrote that Yılmaz İlkay Arın and Mehmet Bağcı, the head of the Ottomans Germania gang and his men were to “carry out a punitive action with a critic of the Turkish President” on April 1, 2016.

It was interpreted by German intelligence that that critic is the ZDF presenter Jan Böhmermann, whose late-night satire show “Neo Magazine Royale” the day before assessed by Erdoğan’s fanatics as an insult to “Reis” which refers to the Turkish President Erdoğan. It was claimed in the report that Arın and Bağcı were given an order to punish Böhmermann.

According to the report, Arın called four days later again and wanted to know what is his assignment and take an order to investigate the ZDF moderator. Therefore he already knows where Böhmermann lives in Cologne, he found out his exact address from a contact named the “Uncle.”

German investigators assume that the codeword “Uncle” meant a contact with the police. However, German police has not determined the identity of this contact yet. The German security authorities warned Böhmermann to hide and he was protected by police.

In another phone call, he demanded that Yılmaz Ilkay Arın arm the Turks in Germany. In the call Arın says he has a stash of “clean” guns and ammunition.

According to a report by Der Spiegel, Külünk was also accused of “apparently giving money to the group to buy weapons several times.” Underlining Metin Külünk’s close relations with President Erdoğan, the German magazine  reported that Külünk has established close ties with the German-Turkish gang “Ottoman Germania.”

The “Osmanen Germania – Ottomans Germania” gang was organized in 2014 under the guise of a boxing club, and has been on the agenda in Germany for a while. The gang is infamous for arms smuggling, human trafficking, drugs and attacks on Kurds and has grown fast, increasing membership and branch numbers.

It has since come to light that the Erdoğan government is behind this increase. The German media has released documents and information on the gang, stating that they act under the Külünk’s orders and are loyal to the Erdoğan regime. Külünk is just a bridge between the gang and Erdoğan. In phone calls caught by German security forces, Metin Külünk receives orders for the gang directly from Erdoğan.

NRW State Office for the Protection of the Constitution Chairperson Burkhard Freier spoke about the issue and stressed that the Turkish gang Osmanen Germania is a paramilitary organisation, and they are “prone to violence.”

Freier pointed out that the Osmanen Germania call themselves a boxing club and said that “For us, the Osmanen Germania working as security guards, carrying guns, engaging in violent crimes and clashing with other groups show that they are a paramilitary group. Their political agenda also strengthens this impression.”

According to a report by pro-Kurdish Fırat news agency, a German intelligence officer pointed out that the Osmanen Germania has a nationalist ideology and said that “The Osmanen Germania participate in the Turkish government’s demonstrations and are responsible for security there. For instance, they take care of security for the UETD – known for their ties to the Turkish state.”

According to NRW state, the Osmanen Germania work together with Turkish security forces. Freier said that “There are implications that Turkish state representatives have met with Osmanen Germania leaders Mehmet Bağcı and Selçuk Şahin. For instance AKP deputy Metin Külünk, who was given the task to unite the Turkish state and Turks in the diaspora, and Presidential Advisor İlnur Çevik have met with Osmanen Germania members. That shows that the Turkish government approves of Osmanen Germania’s goals.”

The DW reported that, in June 2016, specialists from the Hamburg criminal office observed Külünk personally hand Bağcı two envelopes in Berlin. The envelopes were believed to be full of money. Moments later Külünk called Erdogan and organized protests against the Armenian genocide resolution in the German parliament. Osmanen Germania participated in the protests. The police investigations suggest Osmanen Germania has contact with the UETD.

Külünk had given a speech in October 2016 at an event organized by the Swiss branch of UETD in Hoss Hotel in Winterthour, Switzerland and admitted that the Turkish government is targeting the opposition from Turkey in Europe. Külünk had said:

“Wherever the members of these organizations run to, this state will chase after them. This is not like writing stuff on Facebook pages. If they have the guts, they will come and write those things in Turkey. They will sit here and write things against Turkey – do you think they are not monitored? Don’t worry, they are all being followed. This is a duty, a state does not let go of those who betray the state. This shows the grandeur of the state. These people sit around in Basel, Zurich, Winterthour and write things against Turkey, hold meetings here and there. And Turkey is not supposed to follow them? They hold meetings here, they buy hotels, and the state is not supposed to follow them? No way.”

Phone taps have also indicated that Kulunk instructed Turks in Germany to “hit Kurds over the head with sticks,” film the act and provide videos to the Turkish state to be used as a “deterrent” against Erdoğan’s critics.

According to the DW report, German authorities have for some time worried about conflict between the Ottoman Germania and Bahoz (Storm), a rival Kurdish gang.

In November last year, raids had been carried out against the Osmanen Germania in several cities on orders by the Darmstadt Prosecutor’s Office under the Hessen State Criminal Bureau’s lead. Large amounts of drugs and weapons were seized in the raids and several people had been arrested.

According to report, the gang acted as a branch of the AKP and was organzied by the MİT. During a raid on November 9, 2016, a police officer spoke to German press and stated that they were in possession of documents that showed the possibility of the Osmanen Germania having ties to Turkish intelligence units and using the weapons they had procured against Kurds in Germany.

In May, it had come to light that the leaders of Osmanen Germania wanted in Germany had fled to Turkey. Around the same time, photographs had surfaced showing the Osmanen Germania gang’s relationship with some top ranking Turkish state officials. In these photographs, a group including gang leader Selçuk Can Şahin are seen visiting Erdoğan’s Chief Advisor İlnur Çevik in his office while Çevik is wearing a t-shirt with the group’s logo on it.

According to DW, Külünk did not respond to the German media requests for comment, but in a series of tweets he lambasted “fictional reports” and threats against Turks living in Europe. He also condemned threats and repression against “civil society” organizations in Germany.

“Everybody knows Germany’s open and hidden support for PKK and the FETÖ. The German deep state’s media operations are futilely trying to target me and Turkish civil society organizations to cover up their support for terrorist groups,” Külünk wrote in one of 16 tweets on the allegations. “FETÖ” is a derogatory term coined by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) to refer to the Gülen movement.

UETD has also condemned the Frontal 21 and Stuttgarter Nachrichten investigation as not reflecting the truth and amounting to “slander.” “We view this program as part of a campaign to denounce UETD and which seeks to legally marginalize and silence the critical voice of the Turkish community,” UETD claimed in a statement.

According to DW, Osmanen Germania has repeatedly denied media accusations against the group on its Facebook page. It says that detained people such as Bağcı are not members, that the group no longer has a president or vice president, and that it has undergone restructuring.

A bad day for dictator presidents but a good one for the people “Goodbye lese majesty paragraph”

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Protecting bloody dictators is over in German Law

This should, however, have happened long ago. Paragraph 103 has frequently played an inglorious role in the legal history of modern Germany: over criticism of the Shah of Iran, for example, or the Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet. The fact that the German justice system protected the heads of two bloody dictatorships but punished demonstrators and journalists for expressing their opinions was a scandal: It perverted the understanding of the roles of perpetrator and victim.

Paragraph 103 evolved from the traditions of an authoritarian state. It repeatedly turned the German justice system into the henchman of dictators, and it also made the German government vulnerable. It’s a good thing for all of us that it’s gone!

Read more — Böhmermann: How a German satirist sparked a freedom of speech debate

With the start of the new year, Paragraph 103, the so-called “lese majesty paragraph,” has been stricken from German law. Far too late, says Martin Muno, but it’s good that it’s finally gone.

Mayer: “Ottoman gang led by Turkish government”

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Reactions continue after HDP MP Garo Paylan’s announcement that there are assassination plans being made against Kurds, Armenians, journalists and academics in Europe.

Reactions continue after HDP MP Garo Paylan’s announcement that there are assassination plans being made against Kurds, Armenians, journalists and academics in Europe.

German politicians demand a meticulous investigation of the claims. The discussions focus particularly on the Ottoman gang in Germany with ties to the AKP.

Recently the German ZDF television and Stuttgarter Nachrichten newspaper uncovered that gang leaders had ties with AKP Deputy Chair for Foreign Relations and Istanbul MP Metin Külünk.

The news stories were based on surveillance and monitoring protocols of German security units.

Külünk has reportedly transferred money to gang leaders several times. He is among people close to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

On these allegations, the Baden Württemberg Police launched an investigation against the ultra-nationalist gang.

The investigation centers on whether this gang is led from abroad or not.

German Federal Parliament Christian Union Parties (CDU/CSU) Group Spokesperson for Domestic Politics Stephan Mayer stated that these allegations need to be “thoroughly investigated”.

Mayer spoke to the Turkish service of German media institution DW and said the current signs point to the “German Ottomans group being led by the Turkish government” with certainty.

Mayer pointed out that people close to the Turkish president are among those possibly leading the gang. The CSU politician said these allegations “must be taken very seriously”.

German Federal Parliament Free Democratic Party (FDP) Group Deputy Chairperson Stephan Thomae said the state security institutions have started monitoring this group.

Thomae said these allegations must be thoroughly investigated.

Stuttgarter Nachrichten wrote that the Ottoman gang is active in Germany’s North Rheine Westphalia, Hessen and Baden-Württemberg states and targets Kurdish groups in Germany.

OTTOMAN GANG ACTIVE IN TRAFFICKING WOMEN AND DRUGS

According to German agency DW, the German Ottomans gang founded in 2014 in Hessen is active in violent behavior as well as trafficking women and drugs.

In the last year, information on pro-AKP institutions and gang structures have surfaced in Germany.

Espionage activity carried out by mosques and foundations and MİT’s network of spies and assassination plans have been exposed. Many have been taken into custody, but many criminal cases have been closed due to the Merkel government’s ties with the Erdoğan regime.

Source: https://anfenglish.com/news/mayer-ottoman-gang-led-by-turkish-government-23796

German politicians: “Ban Osmanen Germania armed gang of the Erdoğan regime

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With accounts of the Osmanen Germania being the armed gang of the Erdoğan regime in Germany being published in the media, German politicians demand a ban on the gang and AKP’s institution UETD.

The activities of the Osmanen Germania gang which has organized under the guise of a boxing club have become a topic of discussion in Germany. The gang was brought to public attention in the Stuttgarter Nachrichten newspaper and the ZDF television program Frontal 21, and the public now demands a serious investigation into this gang’s ties with the AKP regime.

AKP MP Metin Külünk, who is close with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, had been detected transferring money to the leaders of Osmanen Germania for the purchase of weapons various times. After information and documents surfaced in German media, security units had to launch an investigation against the gang.

Klaus Ziwey, Chief of Police in the Baden-Württemberg state where the gang is active, stated that the issue of whether the gang is controlled from abroad will be investigated. Ziwey addded that the anti-international terror unit of the state security forces (BKA) will be included in the investigation and pointed to the role of the UETD.

POLITICIANS DEMAND OBSERVATION AND BAN

Chief of Police Klaus Ziwey stated that the Union of European Turkish Democrats (UETD), which is the lobbying institution of the AKP in Germany, has ties to the gang while Baden-Württemberg State Interior Minister Thomas Strobl said, “The Turkish government meddling with domestic affairs of our state is unacceptable.”

The Greens Party Group in the State Parliament submitted a written inquiry about whether state administration was aware of the ties between Osmanen Germania and the UETD. Greens Group Chairperson Hans-Ulrich Sckerl demanded a far reaching investigation using all the capabilities of intelligence and security units.

The Greens official also pointed to the information about the AKP financing the Osmanen Germania and said: “Financially supporting attacks against Kurds in Germany and people who speak their minds openly is unacceptable.”

Free Democratic Party (Freie Demokratische Partei – FDP) Baden-Württemberg state parliament group chairperson Hans Ulrich Rülke demanded that the UETD be taken under observation throughout Germany and then be banned. Similar demands have been expressed by representatives from other parties in the state parliament.

Source: https://anfenglish.com/news/german-politicians-ban-osmanen-germania-and-uetd-23649