German media is reporting that the German government is asserting that Turkey’s governing Justice and Development Party (AKP) has intensified its relations with Millî Görüş in Germany. According to a Deutsche Welle (DW) report:
The German government responded to a parliamentary question regarding the connection between Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Milli Görüs. Milli Görüs, which is monitored by the German internal intelligence agency, the Organization for the Protection of the Constitution, is also associated with the Muslim Brotherhood organization. […]
In the response of the German government, it was pointed out that Erdogan’s ideological and political roots extend to the Milli Görüs movement, and after the establishment of the AKP, Milli Gorus saw Erdogan as a “traitor”. The connections were weak for a long time, but the contact became intensified especially after the coup attempt in 2016. [Google Translation]
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The Turkish Justice and Development Party (AKP) is the current ruling party in Turkey led by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. The party was founded in 2001 by a number of politicians from Islamist political parties that were banned for violating Turkey’s secular order, proclaiming themselves as practicing “conservative democracy” and rejecting the Islamist label. The party narrowly survived an attempt to close it via the courts for violating Turkey’s secularism laws for its lifting of a ban on headscarves at universities. Following this, the AKP passed constitutional amendments weakening the independence of the military and judiciary, both of which had threatened the AKP in defense of secularism. The AKP has close ties with the Global Muslim Brotherhood and operates abroad with representative offices in Europe, notably in Belgium, and has announced its intent to open them in other western countries.
Millî Görüş operates as the Islamische Gemeinschaft Millî Görüş (IGMG) in Germany and is headquartered in Cologne from where it oversees the work of Millî Görüş chapters in at least 12 European countries. The ideology and political agenda of Millî Görüş is rooted in the anti-Western and antisemitic ideas of the former Turkish Prime Minister Necmettin Erbakan, who until his death headed the Islamist Felicity Party in Turkey. In 2017, Der Spiegel reported that between 2004–2009, IGMG officers funneled at least €9.5 million to the Felicity Party.
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