Motorcades, marches and demonstrations: Erdogan supporters also celebrated his election victory in Germany. Federal Minister of Agriculture Özdemir sharply criticized the voting behavior of the German-Turks.
With motorcades and marches, many people in Germany also celebrated the victory of incumbent Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the presidential elections in Turkey. Cars honking their horns and decorated with Turkish flags drove through the streets of several cities on Sunday evening. According to the police, the celebrations were mostly peaceful.
In Mannheim, however, there were arguments. Objects were thrown at police officers, and participants in motorcades clashed with pedestrians. But nobody was injured.
According to the police, there were several hundred cars and several hundred people on foot in Duisburg. According to a police spokesman, apart from the occasional ignition of pyrotechnics, it remained peaceful.
There were also motorcades in Hamburg, and long queues of honking cars formed in front of the Turkish consulate near the Dammtor train station. Around 1,000 flag-waving supporters of Erdogan celebrated their president on the lawn in front of the consulate.
Further celebrations and parades with hundreds of people were reported from Berlin, Frankfurt and Munich. According to the police, there was a smaller demonstration in Essen in front of the consulate general there.
50 percent voter turnout – two-thirds for Erdogan
Around half of the approximately 1.5 million eligible voters in Germany took part in the runoff. With around 95 percent of the ballot boxes counted from Germany, Erdogan got 67.4 percent of the votes, according to the state news agency Anadolu. Erdogan again performed significantly better among voters in Germany than overall.
Özdemir: “We’ll talk about that!”
Federal Minister of Agriculture Cem Özdemir sharply criticized the voting behavior of Turks in Germany. The supporters of Erdogan celebrated “without having to answer for the consequences of their election,” wrote the Green politician on Twitter. But many people in Turkey have to do this due to poverty and lack of freedom. “You’re right to be angry. We’ll talk about that!” Özdemir himself is of Turkish origin, but says he does not have a Turkish passport.
Özdemir went on to say that the motorcades in Germany were not a celebration of harmless supporters of a somewhat authoritarian politician. “They are an unmistakable rejection of our pluralistic democracy and evidence of our failure among them. It’s no longer possible to ignore them.” He feels sorry for the many, especially young and well-educated people in Turkey who are losing all hope. He fears that ultra-nationalism and fundamentalism will now spread even more strongly in this country thanks to new imams from Ankara.
“When it comes to emotions, nobody can win against Erdogan”
Gökay Sofuoglu, leader of the Turkish community in Germany, said it was a highly emotional campaign from both sides. “And you know that when it comes to emotions, nobody can actually win against Erdogan.”
It is important to analyze why people of Turkish origin in Germany are increasingly voting for Erdogan, Sofuoglu also said. But German politicians are also asked here: “If people are so interested in politics – why can’t you win them over to the political debate in Germany?”
Many reasons for good results
According to Yunus Ulusoy from the Center for Turkish Studies in Essen, there are many reasons why Erdogan is so well received by voters in Germany: On the one hand, many people who came to Germany in the course of labor migration in the middle of the last century come from the Anatolian heartland. The conservative religious lifestyles there have been passed on to the next generations, said Ulusoy.
Especially with the younger generation, which was actually completely socialized in Germany, there is also an attitude of defiance from time to time. In some cases, hurtful experiences have been made that being a Turk or a Muslim is not very important in Germany, Ulusoy said: “And then there comes a president who gives you the feeling of recognizing this value, emphasizing your belonging to Turkey and last but not least also to address their emotions, their hearts. And Erdogan does that very, very well.”
In addition, Erdogan has a powerful organizational structure in Germany, he said. Turkish media also dominate in many households – much of which is controlled by the government.