A new opinion poll has revealed that more than half of Dutch-Moroccans living across the Netherlands support DENK, an Islamist political party well-known for its promotion of mass migration and staunch support for—and close links with—Turkish President Erdoğan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP).
The survey, which sought to gauge the voting intentions of Dutch immigrants, was carried out by the market research firm Het Opiniehuis and revealed that 51% of Dutch-Moroccan respondents intend to cast their votes for the Muslim-dominated DENK party, compared to 35% of Turkish-Dutch voters, the community which previously had been the main backers of the party, De Kanttekening reports.
The development, according to some pollsters, has come about as a result of Farid Azarkan—a Moroccan-born politician—having recently assumed the party’s leadership.
Commenting on the new development, Aziz El Kaddouri, the director of Het Opiniehuis, said: “As a Dutch-Moroccan, [Azarkan] knows how to bind this group more easily. Moreover, with the decline of [party founder] Tunahan Kuzu and the departure of Selcuk Öztürk, Turkish themes such as the Armenian Genocide and President Erdoğan have become less important within DENK.”
DENK, which means ‘equal’ in Turkish, was first established by Kuzu and Özturk, two Turkish-born politicians, following their expulsions from the Labour Party (PvdA) in 2014. The party, which immediately enjoyed widespread support from the Turkish community in the Netherlands—by far the largest immigrant community in the country—became known for its Islamist orientation, pro-mass migration stance, and close ties with Turkish President Erdoğan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP).
In line with its Islamist and pro-migration posture, DENK’s political program has called for imams to be present in hospitals, schools, the military—and for the establishment of a so-called ‘racism registry’ that would keep tabs on anyone believed to be a ‘racist.’
The growth of Turkish-led, Muslim-dominated parties backed expressly by immigrant communities isn’t a phenomenon that’s confined to the Netherlands. Party’s like DENK—and political entities that are even more radical—have also cropped up in Austria, Spain, France, Greece, Bulgaria, and perhaps most notably Sweden, whose foreign-born population is among the highest on the Continent.
In Sweden’s upcoming national elections, set to take place in September, the new Islamist party ‘Nyans,’ with the backing of the large Muslim immigrant communities in Sweden’s three largest cities—Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmo—could be poised to win as many as 20% of the seats in the parliament, as The European Conservative previously reported.
Like DENK in the Netherlands, Nyans—also founded by a Turkish-born Muslim—maintains cozy relations with Turkish President Erdoğan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP). The party’s dubious associations with radical Islamist entities do not end with Erodgan’s AKP. Unbeknownst to many, Nyan’s leader, Mikail Yüksel, first established the party after was he ousted from the liberal Centre Party following revelations that he had links with the pan-Turkic Islamist extremist movement known as the Grey Wolves.
In February, Yüksel bragged that his party would soon “take over” Skåne County—the administrative region that’s home to the infamous, multicultural city of Malmö—in Sweden’s upcoming national election. The Turkish-born leader has also expressed support for radical Islamists who’ve recently returned to Sweden after traveling to Syria to live under the Islamic State caliphate.
