Erdogan Greeted by Demos in Berlin

by Muriel Mirak-Weissbach
the Armenian Mirror Spectator
BERLIN, NOVEMBER 23, 2023  — Reportedly 2,800 police were deployed on Friday, November 25, to protect Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who was making a short visit. Members of the Society for Threatened Peoples (GfbV) and the Syrian Kurdish Diaspora Network gathered in front of the residence of German President Frank-Walter Steinmeyer, who welcomed the guest. The GfbV’s banner read: “No Red Carpet for Islamist Erdogan!” Many organizers complained that, due to the extensive roadblocks throughout the capital and the disturbance to bus and train connections, they had difficulties reaching the site.

There was one demo after the other on the schedule: In Pariser Platz at 3:00, the message was “Solidarity with Kurds and Jews – No to Erdogan in Germany.” At the same time in Tiergarten, it was “Peace in Turkey and the World”; elsewhere throughout the city, at 4:30 slogans were “Erdogan Not Welcome – No to Human Rights Violations by Turkish Military” and beginning at 5:00, “No to Erdogan Visit and Racism against Kurds.” On the day following his visit, diaspora Kurds demonstrated against the ban against the PKK, which has been in effect since 1993.