Accusation of supporting right-wing extremism: Yilmaz defends himself in the election campaign

Accusation of supporting right-wing extremism: Yilmaz defends himself in the election campaign

Things are simmering in Kiel: The Green Party's mayoral candidate, Samet Yilmaz, is confronted with violent accusations that emerge from a report in “Spiegel”. The accused politician is said to have supported a festival organized by Turkish right-wing extremists. Yilmaz categorically denies the allegations and describes them as “defamatory”. The SPD parliamentary group is now calling for a comprehensive investigation into the incidents

The allegations are aimed at an event in the Kiel shipyard park in June, at which Yilmaz worked in his role as head of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution. He is said to have successfully campaigned for the dismantling work to take place later on “Turkish Day” due to bad weather. The event is suspected of having served as a platform for the right-wing extremist organization “Gray Wolves”. The Turkish Community of Kiel and Surroundings e.V. had applied for the use of the shipyard park and its chairman showed the controversial wolf salute during the event.

Significant consequences for Yilmaz

In addition to facing allegations of supporting a right-wing extremist group, Yilmaz has also lost his security clearance and been transferred to another department of the Interior Ministry. This move is the result of a security audit that raised doubts about its reliability. He previously worked as head of the evaluation department for extremism with a foreign connection

Kiel is generally known as a stronghold of the Greens, and the upcoming election of the new head of administration on November 16th is just around the corner. While the Greens support Yilmaz and suspect a targeted campaign against him, the ballot papers for the election go far beyond this issue. The incumbent mayor Ulf Kampf of the SPD is not standing for re-election, and other candidates, including Gerrit Derkowski of the CDU, are gearing up for the election campaign.

Data and backgrounds

The reports about Yilmaz and the incidents surrounding the Turkish Festival fall into a larger context of growing extremist movements in Germany. According to the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution report from last year, an increase in the potential number of right-wing extremists to over 50,000 was found, with over 15,000 of these people being considered “violent-oriented”. The security authorities are increasingly warning about the danger posed by online propaganda and self-radicalized perpetrators who act without any apparent connection, with the “Gray Wolves” also being viewed as a relevant group in this spectrum.

Yilmaz has only commented on the allegations in an Instagram video and was unable to address the specific issues for legal reasons. However, he emphasized that he was fighting against Turkish nationalism and supporting democracy.

The city of Kiel is now raising the question of how the political debates about extremism and the coming elections will influence each other. Further developments should be followed with interest because they can have far-reaching consequences for the political climate in Kiel and possibly beyond.

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