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AfD meeting in Saxony-Anhalt (symbolic image)
Photograph:
dts News Agency / IMAGO
After a meeting of right-wing activists and extremists became known, criticism of the AfD is getting louder. Now representatives of the Turkish community in Germany are also speaking out and emphatically warning against the terms, the positions and the election of the AfD.
"To all those who are still seriously thinking about voting for the AfD, I would like to say: You are not choosing an alternative, no improvement and certainly not the solution to your problems," said the association's federal chairman, Gökay Sofuoğlu, on Monday. "You are choosing the demise of our open and democratic society."
According to Sofuoğlu, a takeover of power by the AfD would sometimes lead to an exodus of industry and a lack of tourism. "I don't even want to think about the social climate in such a horror scenario," said the federal chairman.
Co-chair Aslıhan Yeşilkaya-Yurtbay also warned against the adoption of AfD terms into political normality – in particular, "remigration" or "repatriation" are part of the right's strategy. When right-wing extremists use the term "remigration", they usually mean that a large number of people of foreign origin should leave the country – even under duress. A jury had chosen this term as the "Unword of the Year" 2023.
"Stop maintaining the masquerade of the AfD," Yeşilkaya-Yurtbay said. "This is about deportations and the repopulation of large parts of German society." Accordingly, not only people with a migration background would be affected, but all Germans who stand up for an open and democratic Germany.
At the end of November 2023, influential AfD politicians are said to have met together with other right-wing extremists and representatives of the far right in a hotel in Potsdam. At the meeting, they discussed how they can deport or displace people with a migration background from Germany en masse. The meeting became known through research by Correctiv, which was published last week.
asc/mfh/dpa