Ferat Koçak affair: “Greet your father with respect”

Ferat Koçak, a left-wing member of the Bundestag from Neukölln, has come under fire for connections to organized crime. A right-wing campaign has since claimed that Berlin is sinking under the rule of an Islamist, anti-Semitic, criminal and left-wing extremist party. What happened?

On Sunday evening, Issa Remmo, head of a large German-Arab family, showed up at the Neukölln Left's election party. Top candidate Elif Eralp immediately distanced herself from him, and the district association emphasized that there were “neither political nor personal relationships.” But on Monday, Issa's son Firas Remmo published an Instagram story.

You can see a chat history of him with Ferat Koçak. Koçak writes in it: “Greet with respect back to your father.” He then asks for a personal meeting. In another message from February 17, Koçak asked for a video of his Bundestag speech to be distributed, in which he criticized the debate about “clans” as a “hysterical, ongoing debate.” Firas Remmo replies: “Gladly, brother.”

The chats aren't the only thing Koçak has to justify. At the same election party, a photo was taken of him with Ibrahim Ibrahim, an official of the “Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine” (PFLP), which is classified as a terrorist organization in the EU. After the picture circulated on

Now there is outrage. Koçak announced that he would withdraw from his positions for the time being. Until “full transparency” has been established, he will not take part in the meetings of the Bundestag’s Interior Committee, said Left Party parliamentary group leader Sören Pellmann.

But a lot of things are mixed up here: as a member of the Bundestag, Koçak has nothing to do with the Berlin election. Nevertheless, his mistakes and those of the Neukölln district association are inflated into the overall moral judgment of the entire state party. The district association's one-sided Palestine solidarity becomes a blanket anti-Semitism problem, a Neukölln problem becomes a Berlin problem - despite Eralp's clear condemnation of anti-Semitism.

The chats were published by former Bild journalist Peter Rossberg. "Organized crime, anti-Semites and Islamists will celebrate together tonight. If @dielinkeberlin comes to power, Berlin will fall in terms of security policy," Rossberg wrote on election evening on X. Established media readily jumped on board and have been praying for the end of democracy ever since.

Despite all the outrage over the left's anti-Semitism problem, the anti-Semitism problem of other parties such as the CDU is swept under the carpet. While Eralp constantly has to declare itself anti-Semitism, the allegations surrounding embezzled anti-Semitism funds, the active delay in clarifying the Berlin funding scandal or anti-Semitic statements within its own ranks hardly play a role. Particularly absurd: Of all people, the now outraged CDU invited Issa Remmo to the House of Representatives in January 2025. The responsible MP claims, just as implausibly as Koçak, that he did not know who was visiting.

The difference between the CDU and the Left: Chancellor Merz is doing considerable damage to his party and proudly proclaims that everything will stay as it is - especially he at the top. Koçak, on the other hand, is taking responsibility and is leaving his parliamentary positions on hold for the time being.