Attack on the CSD in Berlin: Courting Islamists Only Strengthens Them

The Society for Threatened Peoples (STP) today issued an urgent appeal to Federal Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU), calling for an immediate end to cooperation with Islamist regimes. This call follows the attack on Berlin’s Christopher Street Day on July 25, 2026, which the human rights organization believes must serve as a wake-up call for German foreign and migration policy: “Through its ongoing cooperation with Islamist regimes—for example, in Turkey, Afghanistan, Qatar, or Syria—the German government is making radical political Islam socially acceptable. Its foreign policy thereby legitimizes and strengthens militant forces that destabilize the entire Middle East and also threaten our security in Germany,” emphasizes Sarah Reinke, head of human rights work at the STP. “As long as Germany cooperates with regimes such as the Taliban, Erdogan’s Turkey, or the Syrian Al-Schaara regime, all expressions of solidarity with queer people and minorities remain insincere.”

The STP criticizes in particular the fact that, despite domestic political commitments to democracy and diversity, the federal government is deporting refugees to unsafe conditions through repatriation agreements with the Taliban and the Syrian regime. At the same time, it says, support for Islamist organizations such as DITIB continues, while liberal and secular Muslims are ignored. “This is not about values like freedom and diversity, but about maintaining power and keeping out people who are fleeing precisely these Islamists,” said Reinke.

The human rights organization warns that current policies not only endanger the safety of queer people and minorities but will also lead to further support for far-right extremists in Germany. The STP calls on the federal government to fundamentally rethink its foreign and migration policies and to end cooperation with Islamist actors. Only in this way can the rights of minorities and refugees be protected and the credibility of German democracy be preserved.

You can download the full text of the appeal here:

This press release was translated from German to English using AI. If you come across errors or ambiguities, please contact us at 65]G378o6DD6CA.