Criticism of Friedrich Merz’s demands

Following the knife attack in Solingen, the Society for Threatened Peoples (STP) criticized CDU leader Friedrich Merz’s call for a general ban on accepting refugees as “inhumane and populist”. “Reflexive calls for deportations and an admission bans for asylum seekers from Afghanistan and Syria will not help to fight Islamism. Also, Merz’s demands are not compatible with asylum laws – and he is ignoring the fact that ethnic and religious minorities are persecuted by IS. They must be granted protection in Germany,” demanded Dr. Kamal Sido, the STP’s Middle East Consultant, in Göttingen today.

“The parties of the so-called ‘traffic light coalition’ and the opposition CDU/CSU Union must finally take a credible stand against Islamism. This also requires a rethink in German foreign policy. As long as Islamist leaders are seen as important partners of Germany and NATO, calls for deportations as a means to fight Islamism will remain implausible and negligent,” the human rights activist criticized.  

“The NATO governments intervened in Syria and Afghanistan without having a political strategy. They also financed Islamist forces. Many of the Islamist groups primarily gained strength due to the political and diplomatic support of NATO governments. Nonetheless, Germany and the other NATO governments don’t seem to have understood that supporting Islamism means playing with fire,” Sido criticized.  

“As a means to weaken Russia and China internationally, NATO governments continue to rely on cooperation with Islamists – as can be seen in Syria, for example. As an opposition group, the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood is a welcome guest at the German Foreign Office. However, this becomes most evident when looking at the unconditional support for Erdoğan’s Islamist AKP Party by German political parties such as the SPD, the FDP, the Greens, and the CDU/CSU Union,” the STP expert emphasized. “While the NATO members, Russia, and China are vying for the favor of the Islamists, the Islamist rulers in Turkey, Qatar, and Azerbaijan are continuing their inhumane treatment of the Kurds, Armenians, Christians, Yazidis, Jews, Baha’is, Mandaeans, and other religious or ethnic minorities – but especially of Muslim women and the population majority.”

“Islamism can only be combated globally. As long as Islamists in other countries receive diplomatic support and as long as Erdogan’s drone terror against the Kurds is not condemned but rather supported, terrorist attacks by IS cannot truly be prevented – neither in Solingen, nor in Berlin or Paris,” warned human rights activists Dr. Kamal Sido, who was born in northern Syria.