Arif Taşdelen spoke in the Turkish daily “Hürriyet” about the accusations against him that he behaved inappropriately towards young women in the party. The purpose of the allegations was that he would be thrown out of office.
The Bavarian SPD general secretary Arif Taşdelen sees the allegations from the party youth as an attempt to get rid of him. In the Turkish daily newspaper Hurriyet Taşdelen spoke of “false accusations” against himself and of the fact that “there are some people who make accusations in order to get others into trouble”. For Taşdelen, the “main purpose” behind the Jusos’ allegations is “that I will be fired as general secretary”. Apparently he doesn’t fear that the SPD state chairmen Florian von Brunn and Ronja Endres could withdraw their trust from him. The party leadership knows “that the allegations are false,” said Taşdelen.
The social-democratic youth organization had declared the SPD general secretary to be an undesirable person at its events – and justified this by the fact that Taşdelen is said to have behaved inappropriately towards several young women. According to information from Süddeutsche Zeitung The internal control commission of the Bavarian SPD is specifically dealing with two complaints about its general secretary. Among other things, he is said to have insistently asked for the private telephone number of a state parliament candidate. Of the Hurriyet Taşdelen said: “I am the head of the election campaign and I wanted her phone number to exchange information.” The woman “misunderstood the phone number”.
In his first reaction to the allegations, Taşdelen said he “of course wanted to avoid situations like this in the future” and had “taken the logical step of formulating more carefully.” His statements in the Hurriyet sound much more unforgiving. There is a reason why his case aroused interest in the Turkish media: after the state elections in 2013, Taşdelen became the first member of parliament with Turkish roots, which has made him well-known beyond Bavaria.
The allegations that are now being leveled against him are the subject of controversial debate within the party. While the former SPD state chairwoman Renate Schmidt speaks of “Pipifax”, European politician Maria Noichl sees herself fundamentally “on the side of the women who became victims”. Noichl is the federal chairwoman of the working group of social democratic women (AsF) and demands clarification from the party leadership. Bayern SPD leader Brunn has announced that he will investigate the case “neutrally and objectively,” with consideration for everyone involved.