The Green parliamentary group in the Berlin Chamber of Deputies loses its members: Turgut Altug disagrees with the direction of the party. Not only do they distance themselves from the reality of life, many people focus on identity politics. Their closeness to the Left Party also causes problems.
Kreuzberg Green Party MP Turgut Altug has announced his resignation from the party and the Green parliamentary group in the Berlin Chamber of Deputies. To justify this, he said in a statement on his website that most Green Party members were increasingly removed from the lived realities of many Berliners.
“So-called identity politics” increasingly dominates the work of the Green Parliamentary group and party. “At the same time, most party members live in their own ‘bubble’.” The party’s core themes – Altug mentions, among other things, commitment to a social-ecological society, consumer and nature protection as well as nutrition and agriculture – play only a subordinate role.
Altug also offered sharp criticism of the leadership of the Kreuzberg Green Party. They act “with an authoritarian hand” and the space for open debate has become increasingly narrow after two recent changes at the top of the group. “A characteristic of real democratic quality is diversity of opinion and commitment to the rights, especially of disadvantaged and oppressed groups,” said Altug. “The line between legitimate party discipline and illegitimate party coercion is blurring, minority opinion is disappearing and increasingly being suppressed.” Bettina Jarasch and Werner Graf currently serve as leaders of the Green Party in the Berlin Chamber of Deputies.
“I think this closeness is problematic”
In Altug’s opinion, most members of the Green parliamentary group in the House of Representatives are moving closer politically to the Die Linke party – “visible in the numerous joint motions and initiatives in parliament”. “I think this proximity is problematic,” said Altug, who in his statement specifically mentioned initiatives to secure allotment areas and nutrition strategies as well as housing development.
The Left Party calls for “the nationalization of living space under the slogan of ‘democratic socialism’”. At the same time, the consequences of the privatization of the city’s housing stock in the early 200s, pushed through by the PDS as the predecessor party of the Left Party, “are still exacerbating the current housing crisis in Berlin and are also having a further impact on other areas of life.” “Against this background, I have long missed a clear demarcation between the Greens and this party, which also finds it difficult to combat anti-Semitism within its own party,” he continued.
The 60-year-old wants to retain his parliamentary mandate even though he has announced his resignation from the party and parliamentary group. Altug has a direct mandate. He has been a member of Berlin’s House of Representatives since 2011 and was previously part of the 34-member Green Party there. He is a spokesperson for nature conservation, environmental and nature education as well as nutrition and agriculture.
dp with dpa
