The federal police apparently arrested a left-wing delegation at Düsseldorf airport - and prevented them from traveling to a Kurdish area.
The outrage is great.
Dusseldorf - A delegation from the Left Party * said that the Federal Police at Dusseldorf Airport had prevented it from traveling to Erbil in the Kurdish region of northern Iraq.
As the Federal Managing Director of the Left, Jörg Schindler, explained in Berlin on Saturday, the Hamburg Left Group Vice Cansu Özdemir wanted to fly to the capital of the autonomous Kurdish region with a group of around 20 fellow travelers.
Schindler demanded "immediate and comprehensive clarification" from the German government from Chancellor Angela Merkel * (CDU).
Left group wants to travel to Kurdish area: plans apparently thwarted - “damage reputation abroad”?
Özdemir told the broadcaster WDR that she and about 20 fellow travelers had been detained “for several hours in a room without a window” on the grounds of Düsseldorf airport regardless of their parliamentary status.
Their passports were taken from them and they were questioned for hours.
The background to the incident was initially unclear.
The broadcaster NDR reported that the federal police had spoken of a possible danger posed by the group that "could damage the reputation of the Federal Republic abroad".
On the Internet service Twitter there was talk of possible disadvantages for the German-Turkish relationship.
Schindler said that the party executive of the Left “expressed its indignation at this incident” at a meeting on Saturday.
In addition to Özdemir, the tour group also included Martin Dolzer, who had been delegated to attend for Andrej Hunko, member of the Bundestag, as well as activists from the anti-coal power alliance at the end of the terrain.
"Erdogan's henchman": Left-wing politician raises allegations against the federal police after the incident in Düsseldorf
According to the party executive committee, the aim of the trip was to find out more about Turkey's military actions in northern Iraq, which have been going on for weeks, and to “draw attention to the attacks that are contrary to international law”.
"The attacks allegedly directed against positions of the PKK hit the civilian population again and again," criticized the Left Executive Committee.
"We expect the Federal Government and the Foreign Office to provide immediate and comprehensive clarification about the process," demanded the party executive, according to Schindler, with a view to keeping left-wing politicians in check.
It could “not be that politicians who exercise their rights are hindered in their work in this way”.
With a view to the Turkish head of state Recep Tayyip Erdogan *, the statement went on to say that German authorities should “not become Erdogan's henchmen”.
Left delegation stipulated: "MPs treated like serious criminals - without a legal basis"
The co-leader of the Left Party in Hamburg, Sabine Boeddinghaus, told the NDR: "We are stunned that German security authorities are treating a political delegation with elected representatives like serious criminals and preventing them from leaving - without a comprehensible legal basis."
The President of the Hamburg Parliament, Carola Veit (SPD), announced an investigation into the incident.
According to Schindler, before Özdemir's delegation was prevented from leaving Erbil, a travel group had already been expelled, which included the left-wing politician in the Berlin House of Representatives, Hakan Tas.
The Kurdish media reported on Twitter that the German-Kurdish politician had been arrested.
Foreign trips by German politicians - including those of the Left Party - had recently repeatedly sparked debates. Examples are Hunko's talks in the Russian-occupied part of Ukraine *, or a trip by Green leader Robert Habeck to the Ukrainian side of the war zone. (
AFP / fn
) *
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