A pro-Erdogan party, soon at the heart of European legislative power?

The hypothesis is not far-fetched since the irruption into German political life of the Democratic Alliance for Diversity and Renewal (Dava), an association formed by Germans of Turkish origin in the hope of obtaining a seat in the European Parliament during the elections on June 9. 

Within the German political class and the conservative media, the announcement at the end of January of this initiative caused a lot of ink to flow, with many voices being raised to criticize a formation assimilated to a subsidiary of the AKP, the Islamo party. -conservative in power in Turkey.  

Also read: European elections: how does it work?

"Dava is a wolf in sheep's clothing. For her, diversity and anti-racism are only valid in one direction. She is a Turkish version of the AfD", the German far-right party, says to the AFP Green MP Max Lucks, member of the German government.

The group is expected to become "a new gateway to foreign influence on German politics", also accused Christian Democratic Union (CDU) MP Thorsten Frei.

“A representative of Mr. Erdoğan running for office is the last thing we need,” the green Minister of Agriculture, Cem Özdemir, himself of Turkish origin, also lamented on the X platform.

“A lever” for Turkey

The question of Ankara's influence in the country's internal affairs is a recurring topic of debate in Germany, which is home to the largest community of people of Turkish origin in the world, around 2.8 million people. 

“The AKP has always been very attentive to the fate of Turks abroad to use it as leverage and influence the political life of European countries and the European Union,” explains Jean Marcou, professor at Sciences- Po Grenoble and associated researcher at the French Institute of Anatolian Studies in Istanbul.

“Erdogan strongly encourages Turks to participate in social and political life by being elected to office,” adds the expert.

Since coming to power 20 years ago, Recep Tayyip Erdogan has indeed undertaken to seduce the diaspora to extend the influence of the AKP and increase its electoral base.

In 2014, it notably allows nationals to

abroad to vote in national elections.

An activism which has earned him great popularity among Turks living abroad.

During the 2023 general elections, the Turkish head of state won 64% of the vote in Germany (70% for the AKP).

In this context, the conservative opposition to the center-left government of Olaf Scholz criticized the recent reform offering the possibility of obtaining dual nationality, and therefore of voting in Germany.

From now on, a foreigner can apply to become German just five years after arriving instead of eight.

A measure intended to reduce the labor shortage from which Europe's largest economy is suffering.

For his part, Dava has just stepped up to the plate to deny the role of agent of influence that has stuck with him since his creation.

“We are not an emanation of the AKP, we are not the armed wing of Erdogan”, assured AFP Fatih Zingal, lawyer and founding member of the Democratic Alliance for Diversity and awakening.

The former member of the SPD (Social Democratic Party) assures that his only objective is to raise the voice of Muslims in Europe, to fight against "Islamophobia" and to fill "a political vacuum" for Germans of foreign origin “who do not feel comfortable politically, particularly with established parties.”

“All this is not true,” retorts the political scientist associated with the Jean-Jaurès Foundation for Europe, Ernst Stetter, who sees in Dava a formation “which depends directly on Ankara”.

“Even though things changed over time, most Turks, who were workers, found their place and joined the SPD from the beginning of Turkish migration to Germany in the 1960s.”

Profiles linked to the AKP

Most of the Turks on German soil today are descendants of these workers who arrived in the 1960s and 1970s. Around half of them only have Turkish passports, the others only have German nationality.

If Dava denies being financed by Turkey, the ideological proximity to the Islamo-conservative president is obvious.

On social networks, it only takes a few seconds on the accounts of party supporters to see photographs of President Erdogan with laudatory captions scrolling by. 

As for the profiles of party executives, they leave little doubt about the links that unite their party to the AKP.

Fatih Zingal is notably a former member of the UID, a structure responsible for raising funds for the ruling party in Turkey, now banned in Germany. 

German politician Fatih Zingal gives an interview to AFP in his office in Frankfurt am Main, western Germany, February 6, 2024. © Kirill Kudryavtsev, AFP

Among the founding members, we also find Ali Ünlü, a representative of the Turkish-Islamic Union of Religious Affairs (DITIB), a structure considered to be one of Ankara's privileged instruments of influence.

Directly attached to the Turkish presidency, it manages the financing of mosques established abroad.

Finally, Mustafa Yoldas has long been an active member of the IHH, an Islamic humanitarian organization banned in Germany since 2018 in particular for its supposed links with Hamas, considered a terrorist movement by the European Union. 

A “tribune” in Parliament

Without yet being a party, Dava can as an association participate in the European elections, where it wants to field 14 candidates.

Fatih Zingal Zingal thinks he can win at least one MEP post out of the 96 reserved for Germany.

With 1.5 million Turkish voters registered on the electoral lists in Germany, a large part of whom support the AKP, the objective seems perfectly achievable.

"Dava is aimed in particular at young Turks of the second or even third generation. For the first time in Germany, young people will be able to vote from the age of 16" in Europeans, recalls Ernst Stetter. 

See alsoIn Germany, German-Turks feel foreign

Furthermore, the European electoral system favors small groups in Germany which, unlike France, does not impose a threshold of 5% to obtain a seat in Parliament.

This is how in 2014, Germany sent comedian Martin Sonneborn to Strasbourg with only 184,525 votes, or 0.6% of the votes cast.

“Even if we should not dramatize, these new deputies will still be able to benefit from a platform within the European Parliament,” notes Ernst Stetter.

Whatever the result obtained by Dava, the affair is symptomatic of the "ambiguous" relationship which unites the EU and Turkey, underlines Jean Marcou.

Officially a candidate for membership since 1999, negotiations were frozen between Brussels and Ankara in 2018. The Council of the EU even estimated, in June 2019, that the discussions were now “at a standstill”.

Ankara has continued to move away from the European ideal in recent years through attacks on secularism and authoritarian drift, but "these European elections offer the opportunity for Erdogan to send a message", analyzes Jean Marcou.

“Remind the EU that we cannot get rid of Turkey so easily in Europe.”

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