Is Germany becoming Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s Western stronghold? The Turkish president may be increasingly dictatorial, but his vision remains clear: transforming his country into the leader of a united Muslim world community. And Germany is unmistakably part of this strategy.
Over recent decades, a network of Islamic organizations with close ties to Erdoğan’s AKP party has established itself across the country, creating a formidable force that the German establishment views with mounting alarm—and troubling helplessness.
The institutional network
DITIB (Turkish-Islamic Union for Religious Affairs) stands as Germany’s largest Islamic umbrella organization, controlling around 900 mosque communities and 800,000 members. It operates under the direct control of Turkey’s religious authority Diyanet, which deploys imams to Germany.
Diyanet’s character is unmistakable. Its chairman, Ali Erbas, has repeatedly called for Israel’s conquest and celebrated Hamas. He famously preached with a sword in hand during a 2021 sermon at Istanbul’s Hagia Sophia, following the historic building’s reconversion to a mosque.
Milli Görüs, with an estimated 31,000 German members, maintains close links to the Muslim Brotherhood and seeks to establish Islamic principles in society and government. Despite its radical core prompting intermittent surveillance by Germany’s internal security service (Verfassungsschutz), it remains a member of the Islamic Council of Germany and other umbrella organizations with which the German government actively cooperates, including on Islamic religious instruction in schools.
Tellingly, Erdoğan and the AKP enjoy greater popularity among Germany’s Turkish population than in Turkey itself. As one commentator noted after the 2023 election: “If voting had only taken place in Germany, incumbent Recep Tayyip Erdoğan would have won an absolute majority of 65 percent in the first round.”
Much of this popularity stems from the Union of International Democrats, UID—another pro-Erdoğan lobby organization with a strong German base. Officially classified as an NGO, it regularly organizes foreign appearances by AKP politicians.
The political dimension
In January 2023, a new political party emerged: the Democratic Alliance for Diversity and Awakening (DAVA). Its founders and candidates maintain close ties to the Turkish AKP government, targeting German Muslims specifically. Many commentators dismiss it as nothing more than Erdogan’s mouthpiece.
Though DAVA garnered only 148,496 votes in the 2024 European elections, it represents another force to reckon with. As one report correctly observes: “The emergence of a sectarian Islamist party attempting to draw support from alienated Muslim populations in Germany is a worrying development.”
Currently, only about half of Germany’s Muslim population—approximately 6.6% (5.5 million people) —is eligible to vote. However, the country’s new citizenship laws will soon expand this electoral share significantly.
German complicity
Erdoğan’s influence on German politics can no longer be ignored. Yet an honest assessment reveals that German mainstream politics has served as Erdoğan’s most effective accomplice for years.
Whether from cowardice or ignorance, politicians have long supported Erdoğan’s messaging, particularly his anti-Kurdish and anti-Israeli stances, which arguably form the most important pillars of AKP propaganda.
The shameful meekness of former Chancellor Olaf Scholz remains unforgotten. Standing silently beside Erdoğan in November 2023—just weeks after Hamas’s murderous attacks on Israel—Scholz said nothing when Erdoğan declared that Turkey, lacking Germany’s Holocaust history, owed no debt to Israel.
The current government has proven equally unassertive. When asked about ongoing Turkish bombardments of Kurdish areas in Northern Syria, Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul responded that Turkey had “legitimate security interests” and the right to defend itself against Kurdish attacks. This response proves particularly striking given Wadephul’s repeated criticism of Israel’s war in Gaza, even suggesting Germany shouldn’t allow itself to be drawn into “forced solidarity” with the beleaguered Jewish state.
The Kurdish-Israeli parallel
This cowardliness and double standard have characterized German politics far too long. In the summer of 2023—weeks before the October Hamas attacks—Ali Ertan Toprak, head of Germany’s Kurdish community, criticized North Rhine-Westphalia’s education ministry for accepting DITIB as a partner for Islamic religious education in state schools. Toprak highlighted the organization’s horrendous antisemitic rhetoric, including an official Diyanet social media post (in German) calling for the “baby murder state Israel to be stopped.”
“Whoever the state cooperates with sends a signal to the Muslim community and German majority society,” Toprak rightly observed.
According to Toprak, Germany’s Kurdish community is largely pro-Israel and critical of Islamism—understandable, given the courageous struggle of Kurdish YPG troops against ISIS in Syria. Yet the German government maintains a strict ban on all Kurdish symbols, while Palestinian flags and other symbols—including those calling for Israel’s destruction, such as the Hamas triangle—adorn cities and universities everywhere.
The ban on YPG flags at the height of the Kurdish fight against ISIS has been rightly called “a gift for Erdogan” by one commentator.
Out of fear of alienating the much bigger Turkish and pro-Erdogan community in Germany – German politicians have been betraying not just Israel, but also the Kurds.
The roots of appeasement
German politicians’ fear of inter-Turkish conflicts affecting growing Muslim and immigrant communities provides one explanation for Erdoğan’s appeasement. Another traces its roots back to the EU-Turkey refugee deal in 2016, initiated by then-Chancellor Angela Merkel to regain control over illegal migration, creating additional dependence on Turkey.
But the biggest factor playing into Erdoğan’s hands has arguably been German mainstream politics’ lack of political and moral clarity. With well over 70% of Germans believing their country is moving in the wrong direction and has lost orientation, why should immigrants be an exception?
The model of extreme diversity and progressiveness promoted by German politicians proves equally unattractive to those living in Germany with Turkish or Muslim roots as it does to native Germans.
The government’s insistence on downplaying the Islamist threat while continually pointing to far-right growth as the only true threat has also been a major contributing factor—with Erdoğan consciously presenting himself as a spokesperson against anti-Turkish racism.
The new DAVA party campaigns on the dual platform of “fighting Islamophobia” and strengthening “traditional values”—a clever exploitation of both the German establishment’s fear of its own citizens (many viewed as latent racists since populism’s rise) and current politics’ rejection of traditional values (such as free speech and patriotic pride) into which immigrants could integrate, opening a void for Islamists to fill.
The path forward
Responding to these Islamist and AKP challenges will demand courage, and one point should be clear: German politicians must defend Western values. A step in the right direction would be clearly aligning with those who have experienced and continue experiencing Islamist aggression: Israel and the Kurds.
This would at least clarify where Germany stands in relation to democracy and civilization.
Germany: Erdogan’s European Outpost?
Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (L) shakes hands with Germany’s Chancellor Friedrich Merz during the European Political Community (EPC) summit, in Tirana on May 16, 2025.
Adnan Beci / AFP
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Is Germany becoming Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s Western stronghold? The Turkish president may be increasingly dictatorial, but his vision remains clear: transforming his country into the leader of a united Muslim world community. And Germany is unmistakably part of this strategy.
Over recent decades, a network of Islamic organizations with close ties to Erdoğan’s AKP party has established itself across the country, creating a formidable force that the German establishment views with mounting alarm—and troubling helplessness.
The institutional network
DITIB (Turkish-Islamic Union for Religious Affairs) stands as Germany’s largest Islamic umbrella organization, controlling around 900 mosque communities and 800,000 members. It operates under the direct control of Turkey’s religious authority Diyanet, which deploys imams to Germany.
Diyanet’s character is unmistakable. Its chairman, Ali Erbas, has repeatedly called for Israel’s conquest and celebrated Hamas. He famously preached with a sword in hand during a 2021 sermon at Istanbul’s Hagia Sophia, following the historic building’s reconversion to a mosque.
Milli Görüs, with an estimated 31,000 German members, maintains close links to the Muslim Brotherhood and seeks to establish Islamic principles in society and government. Despite its radical core prompting intermittent surveillance by Germany’s internal security service (Verfassungsschutz), it remains a member of the Islamic Council of Germany and other umbrella organizations with which the German government actively cooperates, including on Islamic religious instruction in schools.
Tellingly, Erdoğan and the AKP enjoy greater popularity among Germany’s Turkish population than in Turkey itself. As one commentator noted after the 2023 election: “If voting had only taken place in Germany, incumbent Recep Tayyip Erdoğan would have won an absolute majority of 65 percent in the first round.”
Much of this popularity stems from the Union of International Democrats, UID—another pro-Erdoğan lobby organization with a strong German base. Officially classified as an NGO, it regularly organizes foreign appearances by AKP politicians.
The political dimension
In January 2023, a new political party emerged: the Democratic Alliance for Diversity and Awakening (DAVA). Its founders and candidates maintain close ties to the Turkish AKP government, targeting German Muslims specifically. Many commentators dismiss it as nothing more than Erdogan’s mouthpiece.
Though DAVA garnered only 148,496 votes in the 2024 European elections, it represents another force to reckon with. As one report correctly observes: “The emergence of a sectarian Islamist party attempting to draw support from alienated Muslim populations in Germany is a worrying development.”
Currently, only about half of Germany’s Muslim population—approximately 6.6% (5.5 million people) —is eligible to vote. However, the country’s new citizenship laws will soon expand this electoral share significantly.
German complicity
Erdoğan’s influence on German politics can no longer be ignored. Yet an honest assessment reveals that German mainstream politics has served as Erdoğan’s most effective accomplice for years.
Whether from cowardice or ignorance, politicians have long supported Erdoğan’s messaging, particularly his anti-Kurdish and anti-Israeli stances, which arguably form the most important pillars of AKP propaganda.
The shameful meekness of former Chancellor Olaf Scholz remains unforgotten. Standing silently beside Erdoğan in November 2023—just weeks after Hamas’s murderous attacks on Israel—Scholz said nothing when Erdoğan declared that Turkey, lacking Germany’s Holocaust history, owed no debt to Israel.
The current government has proven equally unassertive. When asked about ongoing Turkish bombardments of Kurdish areas in Northern Syria, Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul responded that Turkey had “legitimate security interests” and the right to defend itself against Kurdish attacks. This response proves particularly striking given Wadephul’s repeated criticism of Israel’s war in Gaza, even suggesting Germany shouldn’t allow itself to be drawn into “forced solidarity” with the beleaguered Jewish state.
The Kurdish-Israeli parallel
This cowardliness and double standard have characterized German politics far too long. In the summer of 2023—weeks before the October Hamas attacks—Ali Ertan Toprak, head of Germany’s Kurdish community, criticized North Rhine-Westphalia’s education ministry for accepting DITIB as a partner for Islamic religious education in state schools. Toprak highlighted the organization’s horrendous antisemitic rhetoric, including an official Diyanet social media post (in German) calling for the “baby murder state Israel to be stopped.”
“Whoever the state cooperates with sends a signal to the Muslim community and German majority society,” Toprak rightly observed.
According to Toprak, Germany’s Kurdish community is largely pro-Israel and critical of Islamism—understandable, given the courageous struggle of Kurdish YPG troops against ISIS in Syria. Yet the German government maintains a strict ban on all Kurdish symbols, while Palestinian flags and other symbols—including those calling for Israel’s destruction, such as the Hamas triangle—adorn cities and universities everywhere.
The ban on YPG flags at the height of the Kurdish fight against ISIS has been rightly called “a gift for Erdogan” by one commentator.
Out of fear of alienating the much bigger Turkish and pro-Erdogan community in Germany – German politicians have been betraying not just Israel, but also the Kurds.
The roots of appeasement
German politicians’ fear of inter-Turkish conflicts affecting growing Muslim and immigrant communities provides one explanation for Erdoğan’s appeasement. Another traces its roots back to the EU-Turkey refugee deal in 2016, initiated by then-Chancellor Angela Merkel to regain control over illegal migration, creating additional dependence on Turkey.
But the biggest factor playing into Erdoğan’s hands has arguably been German mainstream politics’ lack of political and moral clarity. With well over 70% of Germans believing their country is moving in the wrong direction and has lost orientation, why should immigrants be an exception?
The model of extreme diversity and progressiveness promoted by German politicians proves equally unattractive to those living in Germany with Turkish or Muslim roots as it does to native Germans.
The government’s insistence on downplaying the Islamist threat while continually pointing to far-right growth as the only true threat has also been a major contributing factor—with Erdoğan consciously presenting himself as a spokesperson against anti-Turkish racism.
The new DAVA party campaigns on the dual platform of “fighting Islamophobia” and strengthening “traditional values”—a clever exploitation of both the German establishment’s fear of its own citizens (many viewed as latent racists since populism’s rise) and current politics’ rejection of traditional values (such as free speech and patriotic pride) into which immigrants could integrate, opening a void for Islamists to fill.
The path forward
Responding to these Islamist and AKP challenges will demand courage, and one point should be clear: German politicians must defend Western values. A step in the right direction would be clearly aligning with those who have experienced and continue experiencing Islamist aggression: Israel and the Kurds.
This would at least clarify where Germany stands in relation to democracy and civilization.
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