The co-chairwoman of the Left Party in Hamburg's parliament, Cansu Özdemir, has called on the authorities and politicians to take the danger from the fascist-Turkish spectrum seriously in view of what happened at the ADGB rally in Hamburg yesterday. "We condemn the dangerous attack by fascists from Turkey and declare our solidarity with the demonstrators and the alliance of democratic forces in Europe," the politician said on Sunday. Once again, she said, it has been shown how great the danger to opposition members in Germany from Turkish extremists is.

Under the slogan "All together against fascism" rallies against the banning of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) and against Turkey's withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention took place across Europe yesterday, Saturday. The worldwide campaign aims to join forces and form a united front against fascist positions. On the fringes of the rally initiated by the "Alliance of Democratic Forces in Europe" (ADGB) at Hamburg's Gänsemarkt, a provocation by Turkish fascists occurred. One of them threatened the demonstrators with a knife. During the meeting, the nationalist song "Ölürüm Türkiyem" (in English: "I die for my Turkey") first sounded from a nearby construction site. Soon after, men in work clothes appeared and showed the "wolf salute," the identifying sign of the right-wing extremist Turkish "Grey Wolves." The attackers stormed into the rally and attacked participants. One of the attackers pulled a knife. A police officer reacted by pointing his service weapon at the right-wing extremist attacker.

Danger for opposition members is ignored and played down

"Erdogan's extended arm reaches as far as Hamburg and the persecution of opposition figures does not stop at Germany's borders," Özdemir warned. She stressed that the danger to opposition activists from Turkey and Kurdistan has been "ignored and played down" time and again by the German security authorities and politicians to this day. This must finally come to an end, she demanded.

Legal hurdles for ban "too high”

The Left Party has long called for the Grey Wolves to be banned. Last November, there had been a cross-party motion in the German Parliament to consider a ban on the ultra-nationalist, racist and violent movement with anti-Semitic ideology. But for the Federal Ministry of the Interior, the legal hurdles for a ban were too high because it was not an association with a clear structure. Therefore, the interior ministers of the federal states were asked to take stronger action against particularly radical umbrella organizations and their hundreds of local organizations.