Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan is founding a party in Germany – a branch of the AKP in order to participate in the European elections in June, Bild magazine reports. The political class in Germany is already reacting, reports Naftemporiki, as quoted by Rador Radio Romania.

The party will be called DAVA (Democratic Alliance for Diversity and Awakening), and its first four candidates are already known: Mustafa Yoldas, a doctor from Hamburg, registered by the Federal Ministry of the Interior as a supporter of Hamas and its affiliates, Ali Ihsan Unliu, also a doctor in Nizhny Saxony, a member of the local DITIB organization under the direct control of the Turkish Religious Affairs Service, Fatih Zingal, a lawyer in North Rhine-Westphalia, a former member of the Social Democratic Party (SPD), which he left to promote the AKP in Europe, and Teyfik Özcan , a self-proclaimed human rights activist who is likely to be the leader of DAVA as well.

Proclamation on registration

According to the party’s founding statement, cited by Bild, DAVA demands that people of foreign origin receive full rights, pointing out that very often “when looking for apartments or jobs, as well as in many everyday situations, such as dealing with the authorities, they feel that they are not perceived as full members of European society.”

The party also aims to tackle child poverty and the problems of the elderly, calling for more social benefits and a “pragmatic and non-ideological refugee policy”.

The first German politician to react was Federal Minister of Agricultural Economy Cem Etcedemir (Green Party), of Turkish origin, a constant critic of Tayyip Erdoğan, who commented on Platform X: “Erdoğan’s wing to run here in the elections is the last thing we need.”

SPD co-president Saskia Esken told Welt TV that “it is important to clearly show our fellow citizens of Turkish origin that Germany is one, that we are one people and that we will not tolerate forces like these far-rights. networks that want to deport migrants, but Tayyip Erdoğan’s divisive tendencies have no role to play here.”

Christian Union (CDU/CSU) parliamentary group vice-president Jens Spahn warned in a post on X that “such a move would become another extremist party in our country,” while CDU domestic policy chief Christoph de Vries told Sunday’s Bild that the federal government “must under no circumstances treat the creation of such a party lightly.”

It is imperative that the security services keep a close watch on all the activities of this party and its links with the Turkish government, in order to intervene if Ankara has direct influence.

Lists of candidates for the European elections must be submitted by March 18. In European elections, there is no five percent barrier, as in Germany, but in any case, as Bild points out, such a party could interest a group of approximately 5 million voters.

There are currently 2.5 million Muslims living in Germany who have the right to vote, and when the citizenship law is changed in April, almost as many could be added, reports Naftemporiki, as cited by Rador Radio Romania.