German minister accuses party of supporting PKK
BERLIN
‘There are significant indications that the Left Party has such anti-constitutional tendencies,’ Friedrich says. REUTERS photo
German Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich said some groups in the Left Party (Die Linke) are supporting terrorist groups like the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).The comments came after German weekly Der Spiegel magazine revealed that the German Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution has been monitoring 27 of the 76 Left Party members.
“Some groups in the Left Party are supporting terrorist organizations like the outlawed PKK,” Friedrich said, Anatolia news agency reported. Some groups in the party are justifying the acts of crime committed in demonstrations, Friedrich said, commenting on another German magazine, Focus.
Friedrich said some groups within the party join other groups that are explicitly seeking socialist-communist order, and because of these acts, the party should be monitored closely.
The Left Party is seen as a foe to the constitution and is not only working for the abolishment of capitalism but for building a new social order, according to the report published in the magazine. The report also claimed 16 board members out of 44 are members of radical groups including Communist Platform, Socialist Left and Marxist Forum.
Cansu Özdemir, Hamburg deputy of the party, condemned the monitoring. “If the German state would use its right eye instead of its left eye, they would reveal the countless murders committed by Nazis,” Özdemir said, according to Fırat news agency.
The weekly Der Spiegel magazine last week revealed the German Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV), has been monitoring 27 of the 76 Left Party members, as well as 11 other politicians in regional parliaments. Among those being watched are head of the parliamentary group Gregor Gysi, party leader Gesine Lotzsch and the vice president of the Bundestag, Petra Pau.
“The Constitutional Protection Office hasn’t picked up on the fact that the world has changed. They haven’t learned that there were eight murders by right-wing terrorists. They haven’t figured out that the Cold War is over,” Gysi said.
However, Friedrich said it is a legal duty to observe organizations and parties that could possibly be a threat to the German constitution. “There are significant indications that the Left Party has such anti-constitutional tendencies,” Freidrich said.
