Because of clan contacts: Left MP Koçak is suspending functions for the time being

afp/dpa/epd | After his chat contact with a member of the extended Berlin Remmo family, the left-wing Bundestag member Ferat Koçak initially withdraws from the public and from the Bundestag's Interior Committee. This was announced by Left co-parliamentary group leader Sören Pellmann in Berlin.

It's about creating complete transparency, said Pellmann. For the time being, Koçak will no longer appear in public and will no longer take part in meetings of the Interior Committee, of which the MP is a member. “We believe Ferat Koçak’s statements until otherwise emerges,” said Pellmann. The Left would like to “discuss together afterwards in solidarity whether and what consequences the whole thing will have,” said Pellmann.

Koçak himself had described his chat contact with a well-known member of the Remmo family as a mistake and apologized. The person he spoke to was a son of Issa Remmo, a leading clan member. Koçak wrote on the X platform on Monday evening that he initially did not know who the man was. Remmo uploaded a screenshot of the conversation to Instagram. The extended Remmo family of Arab origin came to Berlin from Lebanon in the 1980s. The family, which now has several generations, is said to include several hundred people. The police assign some of them to the criminal clan milieu.

The term clan crime is controversial because, according to critics, it stigmatizes and discriminates against people with a migrant background based solely on their family affiliation and origin. The Left party also largely rejects the term.

The federal leadership of the Left is critical of contacts between Bundestag member Ferat Koçak and the extended Remmo family in Berlin. “As a party, we have high demands on our representatives,” explained Federal Managing Director Janis Ehling when asked by the German Press Agency. "The mere appearance of connections like in this case damages the reputation of our party. Our MP Ferat Koçak is therefore right to draw conclusions. I assume that he will ensure full transparency and do everything to dispel these suspicions."

The former long-time left-wing member of the Bundestag and Vice President of the Bundestag, Petra Pau, clearly distanced herself from Koçak. "I've had enough. As a member of the Bundestag, you have a responsibility, I can no longer believe in naivety," she told Koçak on the X platform. "What does it actually mean to take time now? Finally take responsibility," demanded Pau, who was a member of the Bundestag from 1998 to 2025.

The Left distanced itself from Remmo's visit on election evening and explained that the clan leader was not invited and was sent out again. “We have nothing to do with organized crime, we are fighting them,” said left-wing top candidate Eralp on Sunday evening.

The CSU regional group leader in the Bundestag, Alexander Hoffmann, accused the Left of maintaining “contacts in the most criminal circles in our country”. “She has to answer questions.” The CDU interior expert Alexander Throm called on Koçak to immediately withdraw from the Bundestag Interior Committee. “Anyone who greets clan heads with respect must not have access to sensitive information from the security authorities,” the CDU politician told the Augsburger Allgemeine.

The Greens called on the Left Party to expel Bundestag member Koçak from their parliamentary group. Koçak repeatedly stands out “with a closeness to people who glorify terror, who question the state of Israel, who attract attention with anti-Semitic incidents,” said co-parliamentary group leader Katharina Dröge in Berlin. She therefore asked Left co-parliamentary group leader Heidi Reichinnek “very personally: Can someone like that be part of the Left parliamentary group?” Dröge attested that the left in the Neukölln district of Berlin had “a massive problem with the topic of anti-Semitism”. The Greens now entered the coalition talks “with holding lines”. This includes “clarity in the fight against anti-Semitism”.

SPD parliamentary secretary Dirk Wiese called for “clear consequences” from Koçak in the Funke media group’s newspapers. An apology is not enough, “especially since it seems more than unbelievable.”

Federal Education Minister Karin Prien (CDU) decidedly opposed the left's participation in government in Berlin. In Berlin it must be prevented that a left-wing mayor governs the city with a party “that has a really big anti-Semitism problem,” Prien told the broadcasters RTL and ntv. “You can’t build a state with people like that.” The topic is also crucial for Jews in Berlin: “Also for whether they want to and can continue to live in this city.”

Former SPD leader Sigmar Gabriel warned his party and the Greens in Berlin against a government alliance with the Left Party. “I would not form a coalition with any anti-Semitic party,” said Gabriel on the ZDF program “Maybrit Illner Spezial”. Union parliamentary group leader Thorsten Frei (CDU) pointed out in the ZDF broadcast that in addition to a government made up of the Left Party, the Greens and the SPD, an alliance of the CDU, the Greens and the SPD would also be possible.

Israel's ambassador to Germany, Ron Prosor, accused the Left Party of "completely uninhibited anti-Semitism." The party must therefore “present a concrete plan on how to stop the hatred of Israel and Jews in its own ranks and combat it to its roots.” The German-Israeli Society of Berlin and Brandenburg warned against a coalition with the left in the capital. From the perspective of Jews and anyone who takes the city's historical responsibility seriously, the Left should not come to power, said DIG state chairwoman Cerstin Richter-Kotowski on Tuesday. “The Jews in Berlin are really scared again after this Sunday,” she said. The DIG chairwoman and Berlin State Secretary for Culture is herself a CDU member.