An unconfirmed personal information in the consulate general is currently occupying parts of the Turkish community - not only in Frankfurt.
Yusuf Yerkel, former advisor to President Erdogan, is to become the new commercial attaché in the Main metropolis, according to reports from several Turkish media.
Monica Ganster
Editor in the Rhein-Main-Zeitung.
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Advisors usually remain in the background, but Yerkel gained international fame in May 2014 when he repeatedly kicked a demonstrator lying on the ground in front of photographers.
Like other buddies, Erdal Kocabiyik had protested against a visit by President Erdogan to Soma, where a few days earlier a mine had collapsed and 301 people died.
Angry victims' relatives and miners blamed the government for the miners' deaths due to a lack of safety precautions.
When the image of Yerkel's kick went around the world, Erdogan separated from his adviser, who has remained unpunished despite his attack.
Resistance to Yerkel
Yerkel stands in public as a symbol for the political handling of the Soma disaster, says the Hessian state parliament member Turgut Yüksel (SPD). He hopes that the good cooperation between the Turkish Consulate General and the Hessian authorities, institutions and companies will not be damaged by Yerkel's nomination. City council leader Hilime Arslaner-Gölbasi (The Greens) also considers Yerkel to be “not worthy” of holding a diplomatic post. The Turkish community in Germany describes him as an anti-democrat who is not allowed to become a commercial attaché.
The personnel has not yet been officially confirmed.
Apparently it is so sensitive that there is no one who wants to confirm or flatly deny a nomination.
Neither the Consulate General itself nor the Foreign Office, where a new commercial attaché must at least be registered, wanted to comment on an upcoming replacement to the FAZ.
Nevertheless, resistance to Yerkel's alleged posting to Frankfurt is forming on social media.
Several organizations and Turkish-born politicians from various parties have called for a protest rally in front of the Turkish Consulate General on Kennedyallee on Friday noon, supported by the German Trade Union Confederation Rhein-Main.