Kurdish politician Gökay Akbulut had won a seat in the federal parliament from Die Linke on September 24. 34 years old Akbulut had ran her campaign in Mannheim with the slogan, “Social Equality, Peace for All”.

Weekly news journal Focus published an article targeting Akbulut in their latest issue. The journal based the story on “sources from security forces in Berlin” and announced that Akbulut had been profiled for years in the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution’s “intelligence information system”.

Akbulut is said to be under intelligence surveilance due to her “close ties with the PKK”, while Police Chief Dieter Schäfer from the Mannheim Police used language targeting Akbulut who chooses to engage in politics with her Kurdish identity.

The police chief alleged that Akbulut was one of the responsible officials for the Kurdish Cultural Festival held in Mannheim in 2012 which was attacked by the police, and said: “Akbulut didn’t apologize to the injured police officers, and made me look like a provocateur.”

“AKBULUT WAS JUST DEMİRTAŞ’S TRANSLATOR”

Kurds in Germany had come together on September 8, 2012 in Mannheim in the 20th International Kurdish Cultural Festival held with the slogan “Freedom for Öcalan, Status for Kurdistan”. Over a hundred festival participants had been wounded when violent events broke out with the police attacking a 12 years old child who was carrying a flag.

Schäfer later went on to write a book about the incident in an attempt to become famous, but incidentally forgot to mention the wounded and criminalized Kurds in the festival. The Baden-Württemberg State Die Linke organization has refuted the allegations by police chief Schäfer and Focus the journal.

Die Linke pointed out that Gökay Akbulut was not among the organizers of the festival in question, and said, “Akbulut’s only role was as translator to HDP Co-chair Selahattin Demirtaş who was in Mannheim for the festival. In addition, Akbulut worked hard to calm the situation during the incident that day.”

Die Linke stated that Akbulut is constantly threatened by Turkish nationalists and Turkish intelligence for her efforts for the Kurdish society in Germany and demanded an end to German intelligence surveillance. Die Linke Baden-Württemberg State Spokesperson Heidi Scharf also issued a message of solidarity with Akbulut.

Akbulut had joined Die Linke in 2007 as a university student. She worked in the state administration of the party and had been serving as City Council member since 2014.