PodcastErdoğan regime’s support for controversial Islamist group in Germany increasing, says Berlin
The German government has said that the Erdoğan regime has in recent years increased its support for Milli Görüş, an Islamist group monitored by German intelligence services due to alleged extremist leanings. In its response to a parliamentary question, the German government has also emphasized the links between Milli Görüş and Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood.
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Turkish President Reep Tayyip Erdoğan's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) has been strengthening its contacts with the Islamist group “Milli Görüş” (which translates as “National Vision”), the founders of whom are considered extremists by the German government, Deutsche Welle's Turkish service reported on Oct. 27.
Sevim Dağdelen, a deputy of Germany's Left Party (die Linkspartei), submitted a parliamentary question inquring about the relationship between the AKP and Milli Görüş group, which has long operated in Europe and has an estimated 300,000 members and sympathizers and controls hundred of mosques, mostly in Germany.
TheGerman government said in its response to Dağdelen that Milli Görüşgroup has for a long time seen Erdoğan as a “traitor” followingthe establishment of the AKP, but the relations have started toimprove in the recent years, especially following the 2016 failedcoup attempt in Turkey.
TheGerman government also pointed the attention to the links betweenMilli Görüş and Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood organization, sayingthat “these connections are seen in the activities that are heldjointly.”
“The Turkish state continues its efforts to influence Turkish-origin communities in Germany and Ankara tries to affect the political will formation and decision-making mechanisms” of Germans of Turkish descent, Deutsche Welle quoted the German government as saying in its response.
Dağdelen found it "pleasing" to see that the German government has "officially for the first time said that Erdoğan's ideological and political origins are based on the anti-democratic Muslim Brotherhood organization.”
“Islamist-nationalist Erdoğan network is a threat for the public safety in Germany and should be destroyed instead of being encouraged by the [German] state,” she was quoted as saying by Deutsche Welle.
Milli Görüş was founded in the late 1960s by Necmettin Erbakan, Erdoğan’s political mentor. Analysts says that the movements adopt many of the positions, aims and tactics of the Muslim Brotherhood, which has led to serious concerns among authorities in Europe.