The mosque association IGMG denies that election campaigns for the AKP are being conducted in its German communities.
Ippen.Media research shows a different picture.
Cologne – In Germany, too, preparations for the Turkish elections on May 14 are in full swing.
The AKP lobby group UID and the "AKP Foreign Elections Coordination Center" YSKM (Akparti Yurtdışı Seçim Koordinasyon Merkezi) are trying to win as many voters as possible from Turks living abroad for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his AKP.
Especially in the mosque communities of the DITIB and also the IGMG (Millî Görüş) there are events and campaigns in which the Turkish President is advertised.
However, the general secretary of the Islam Association Ali Mete insists that there is no election campaign in their mosques.
"There is no election campaign in IGMG communities," Mete wrote in response to our article about the YSKM in Stuttgart.
She had written on Facebook that she had started her preparations for the elections in her branch.
However, this is the mosque association of the IGMG in Aalen.
The post has since been deleted.
https://t.co/Y4k0TFn99b
🇩🇪 Dear @fr, no, there are no #election campaigns in @igmgorg communities.
Neither in Aalen nor anywhere else.
In Aalen it is about a visit to our congregation on the occasion of night prayers by representatives of the AKP in Germany.
— Ali Mete (@AliMete82) March 30, 2023
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Eren Güvercin, expert on the scene and chairman of the state association "Liberal Diversity Berlin", is not surprised by Mete's reaction.
“Of course, the leadership of the association will deny that election campaigns are taking place in their communities.
After all, Turkish mosque associations such as DITIB, IGMG and ATIB present themselves to the public as German religious communities,” says Güvercin in an interview with
fr.de
from IPPEN.MEDIA.
"The reality in recent years, but also in the current election campaign, is that there are clear expectations of Erdogan.
Because for Erdogan, it is a duty of the Turkish mosque associations in Germany to support the election campaign for his AKP in Germany," said Güvercin.
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There are said to have been hundreds of "joint events" by the IGMG mosques and the UID.
© Daniel Karmann/dpa
UID reports on joint events of YSKM and IGMG before Turkey's elections
According to Mete, the Aalen community was only visited by AKP representatives.
"Why the visitors in a post about our community misleadingly believe that the premises are an AKP campaign office is beyond me," Mete said in his Twitter comment on our article.
Politicizing mosque communities and turning them into campaign centers contradicts their understanding as a religious community.
However, according to the European AKP lobby group, the Union of International Democrats (UID), there were around 420 “joint events” with the IGMG between mid-2021 and the end of 2022 alone.
However, the IGMG left unanswered questions from our editors about the joint events with the UID.
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Criticism of IGMG Chairman Ergün: "Do you want to keep these pictures secret?"
IGMG chairman Kemal Ergün also visited Erdogan at his official residence at the end of March.
Ergün also met with Erdogan's deputy, Fuat Oktay.
However, why the visit to Turkey did not appear on the IGMG's website or in its social media channels raises questions.
The IGMG did not want to answer questions about this either.
But why isn't this reported on IGMG channels?
Do you want to hide these pictures of the IGMG leadership in Erdogan's palace from the German public?
pic.twitter.com/r4E0rdkSeZ
— Eren Güvercin (@erenguevercin) March 26, 2023
Since the beginning of the year, the AKP has been active again and again at the IGMG and its events.
The UID chairman for the Württemberg district, Mehmet Saganak, had himself photographed at an open-air fast-breaking event on April 1 in Ludwigsburg.
In his hand he holds chocolates with the inscription "AK Parti Ludwigsburg", which he distributes among the Turks abroad.
It is interesting that the IGMG chairman Kemal Ergün was present at the same event and also gave a speech.
Just like the DITIB, the IGMG is dependent on the Turkish religious authority Diyanet, since it also gets imams from there.
It is all the more impossible to break away from the Turkish government.
"The leadership of the Turkish mosque associations does not want to or cannot prevent the instrumentalization of their communities," says Güvercin.
Erkan Pehlivan
List of rubrics: © Daniel Karmann/dpa