Koçak and anti-fascism: An opportunity for the Interior Committee?

Left-wing MP Ferat Koçak gave up his seat on the Interior Committee on Wednesday. However, he retains his position as spokesman for anti-fascism and anti-racism. An unusual step.

Koçak's predecessor Martina Renner was also the spokesperson for anti-fascism and had a seat on the Interior Committee. Who will take over for Koçak will probably be discussed in the group next week. A query from taz remained unanswered by the time of going to press.

The reason for Koçak's resignation was questionable contacts with people from organized crime. In a video that Koçak published on Instagram on Friday, he now shows his understanding. He had previously revealed his WhatsApp chat with Firas Remmo to Die Zeit.

He is the son of Issa Remmo, whose family members have been tried several times for organized crime. In the video, Koçak makes it clear at the beginning: “Organized crime sucks.” Neither he nor his party had anything to do with it. He then explains how he came into contact with the Remmo family. He admits that he did not differentiate himself from her clearly enough.

Koçak is criticized not only because of his contacts with the Remmo family, but also because he posted a photo with Ibrahim Ibrahim. This promotes the left-wing terrorist organization Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). He called the killed Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar a “martyred hero” and paid him his “respect.”

For some people, both Koçak's contacts with people from organized crime and his political proximity to perpetrators of terrorism are incompatible with his work in the Interior Committee and as a spokesman for anti-fascism and anti-racism. The Thuringian state parliament member Katharina König-Preuss criticized last week that Koçak did not represent a comprehensive understanding of anti-fascism and should resign from the mandate. A clear stance against anti-Semitism is part of anti-fascism, says König-Preuss.

She also criticizes that Koçak is letting his work in the committee slide. As a speaker, you have to persistently collect information in order to support journalists or scientists. Koçak does not live up to this claim. In fact, opposition politicians in the Interior Committee provide important information with small inquiries, for example about political extremism and events in security authorities.

The left-wing politician Petra Pau also posted on Pau, who sat on the Interior Committee for a long time, continues: “I had hoped that you would continue the work of me and Martina Renner, nothing has happened regarding REX, anti-Semitism, antigypsyism.” Members of the Interior Committee from other parties also confirmed to the taz that Koçak is not always present in the committee and is not always informed about all subject areas.

Since entering the Bundestag, Koçak has made 21 small questions. 14 of them deal with right-wing extremism, for example demonstrations, acts of violence, gun ownership or groups such as the Reich Citizens or the NSU. Several questions concern Islamophobia and anti-Muslim racism. A single one also deals with anti-Semitism. This contains ten sub-questions, which are mainly about Islamophobia. In comparison, his predecessor Martina Renner made around three times as many inquiries in her first year on the Interior Committee.

Meanwhile, Koçak seems to be focusing on other aspects: his speeches in the Bundestag are going viral on Insta, and he knows how to sharpen things up for short videos. At the same time he is the directly elected representative in Neukölln. The Left's first directly elected candidate outside the territory of the former GDR. In his Insta video on Friday he made it clear: He wanted to be there in Neukölln, that's why he was elected. Insta-Reels are also central to reaching “Ali in Gropiusstadt” and “Grandma Erna in Britz”. At the end of his video he assures that he remains “one of you”. He doesn’t want to become a “suit-wearing politician.”