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In November 2019, the city of Göttingen and representatives of the religious communities signed the "joint declaration for peace and mutual respect and against anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, xenophobia and racism".
It says: “We have no place for vilification.
We see diversity as an opportunity and advocate a mindful and open approach in the social debate about religious and cultural plurality. "
This declaration was also signed by Mustafa Keskin, long-time chairman of the Ditib community in Göttingen.
The German-Turkish mosque association Ditib claims to have more than 900 associations.
Postings that Keskin published on Facebook and WhatsApp between 2013 and 2021 show a different picture of the voluntary Islamic Association official.
The contributions contain, among other things, a positive reference to the right-wing extremist Pope assassin from 1981, conspiracy myths and messages of hate against Jews and Armenians.
What Keskin was doing online
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In a post by Keskins from May 2015, Pope Francis and the Turkish right-wing extremist Mehmet Ali Agca can be seen, who seriously injured John Paul II in an assassination attempt in 1981.
Because Francis recognized the genocide of the Armenians as a historical reality, he shouldn't be surprised if someone shot him in the head, it says in the article, which, like the other articles, was published in Turkish.
"And then they are surprised if you shoot them in the head," says Mustafa Keskins in this Facebook post.
Above Pope Francis, below the assassin Agca
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In other posts from May 2015 it is said "Jerusalem belongs to the Muslims" and "Armenian bastard dogs".
Keskin also posted a photo of an Israeli soldier with a child in front of him raising his hand.
"He rears up in front of the Jewish dog, says: Your Zionism will be surprised when I crush an Ottoman slap in the face," wrote Keskin at the time.
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In the same month he posted a meme with Turkish President Erdogan and former Israeli President Shimon Peres.
"The first one since Sultan Abdülhamid, who stood up to the cursed Jew, the powerful voice of the silent Ummah: Recep Tayyip Erdogan," it says.
An image from 2014 shows a weapon made from a map of Israel stabbing a child's upper body.
At that time, a Beretta pistol with ammunition also graced his Facebook profile picture.
Peaceful looks different: In 2014, a Beretta pistol with ammunition graced Mustafa Keskin's Facebook profile picture
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In January 2021, Keskin posted a photo on WhatsApp in which the former US President Donald Trump is described as an "old puppet", his successor Joe Biden as a "new puppet" and the investment banker Jacob Rothschild as a "puppeteer".
In anti-Semitic conspiracy myths, the Rothschild family acts as a placeholder for “the Jews”, who are hallucinated as being powerful and dominating world politics.
The Rothschild family acts as a placeholder for "the Jews" in anti-Semitic conspiracy myths
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The contributions were researched by the socialist youth association Die Falken after the Ditib youth had applied for full membership in the Lower Saxony state youth council.
The falcons also discovered symbols of the Turkish right-wing extremist gray wolves and Israel-related anti-Semitism on the Facebook profiles of current and former board members of the Ditib youth.
"We are astonished that the anti-Semitic statements by Keskins did not attract or did not want to attract attention in Göttingen civil society," said the Göttingen falcon.
In numerous interreligious working groups in Göttingen he was open and tolerant, while at the same time openly spread anti-Semitic and racist messages of hate in the digital world.
In fact, at the festival of the three Abrahamic religions in 2018, according to “Stadtradio Göttingen”, Keskin said that there was interreligious cooperation to “help all religions”.
If you want to be treated as a role model, you have to live it yourself.
At the New Year's reception of the Göttingen Dean's Pastoral Council that year, according to the “Göttinger Tageblatt”, he expressed his hope for peace in the world.
In a conversation with the Göttingen Police Department in 2015, Keskin "expressly distanced himself from any form of violence," as the police announced at the time.
A spokesman for the city of Göttingen announced that the basis for further cooperation with the Ditib community of Göttingen is currently being discussed.
"Political Islamism is poison"
Christoph de Vries (CDU), rapporteur for religious communities in the Union parliamentary group, calls Mustafa Keskin “the typical face of political Islamism”.
With him the Janus-headedness can be experienced, which is already known from Ditib representatives in other cases.
“Outwardly liberal and tolerant and engaged in interreligious dialogue, inwardly grossly anti-Semitic, nationalistic and intolerant”, said de Vries.
The case again shows that Ditib has to be extremely vigilant and restrained in state and civil society cooperation.
The Union parliamentary group will soon be discussing a position paper by de Vries and other domestic politicians, which, among other things, calls for a review of all cooperation with Islamic associations and a “Documentation Center for Political Islamism”.
"Political Islamism is poison for our free society and a threat to social cohesion in our country," said de Vries.
Keskin has resigned the chairmanship of the Göttingen Ditib community at the request of the Ditib regional association Lower Saxony-Bremen, as the association announced.
"In Göttingen a limit has been crossed and the misconduct cannot be justified in any way," said the chairman of the regional association, Ali Ünlü, WELT.
Group-related misanthropy is not tolerated in the ranks of the Ditib.
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According to its own statements, the regional association has 84 mosque communities in which over 2,000 people take on an active role in establishing the statutes.
The voluntary state board could not guarantee that every private profile in the social media is controlled and must grant everyone a leap of faith, said Ünlü.
Nevertheless, it is always difficult to tear private postings out of the temporal and emotional context and to draw conclusions about today's personality.
"Despite the misconduct of an individual, an entire religious community and the many voluntary actors must not be defamed and stigmatized here," continued Ünlü.
These are very successful in their function as bridge builders and contact persons for Islam in Lower Saxony.
Zekeriya Altug from the Ditib federal board announced that none of the postings mentioned could even begin to reflect an attitude that would be tolerated by an official of the mosque association.
The fact that the case is being launched at the same time as the application by the Muslim regional youth association in the regional youth council shows, however, that behind the disclosure of these postings there is "not a constructive-critical approach, but a defamatory intention with the aim of rejecting Muslim youths".
"This is counterproductive and excludes innocent, voluntarily active young people in our association."
The Lower Saxony Falcon Association did not want to comment on these allegations to WELT.
Mustafa Keskin left several inquiries unanswered.