'Persona non grata’: Appointment of Yusuf Yerkel protested in Frankfurt

Click to read the article in Turkish

A group of rights advocates from Turkey and Germany met across the Consulate General of Turkey in Frankfurt and protested the appointment of Yusuf Yerkel as a commercial attache to the city.

The second protest against the appointment yesterday (February 16) was joined by several people upon the calls of several organizations from Turkey such as the European Alevi Unions Federation (AABF), European Democratic Union of Forces (ADGB), Federation of Democratic Workers' Associations (DİDF), Republican People's Party (CHP) Hessen, Left Party Hessen and Anti-Genocide Association (SKD).

While Germany's labor unions Deutscher Gewerkschaftsbund, IG Metall and IG BCE also made calls for the protest, these cals were also supported by Germany's leading parties such as the Social Democratic Party (SPD), The Left Party (Die Linke) and Greens (Die Grünen).

Starting at 4 pm local time in Germany, the protest against Yusuf Yerkel's appointment was attended by hundreds of people.

Making speeches during the protest, the protestors stressed that kicking a detained worker is a crime against humanity and said: "Withdraw the decision of appointment immediately. We don't want Yerkel in Frankfurt. We will not let him be on duty in any field." The Germany Trade and Investment Union (ATİYAB), an organization of businesspeople from Turkey, also stated, "We will definitely not let Yerkel work.

While banners of "Yerkel - Persona non grata" and "You are unwanted in Frankfurt" were carried during the protest, the 301 miners who lost their lives in the occupational homicide in Manisa's Soma in 2014 were commemorated during the protest. Alevi associations and CHP associations from nearby cities such as Darmstadt and Rüsselsheim also supported the protest.

What happened?

Yusuf Yerkel, the then assistant secretary of the then Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, caused huge public outrage after he kicked a miner during the protests following an occupational homicide that claimed the lives of 301 miners in Manisa's Soma district in 2014.

An online petition has also been launched by the Turkey branch of the Democracy in Europe Movement 2025 (DiEM25) against the appointment of Yusuf Yerkel as a commercial attache to Frankfurt.

The DiEM25 Turkey has recalled: "Yusuf Yerkel, the perpetrator of the scandal, which took its place in the social memory by kicking the protester who lost a loved one in Soma, where 301 miners died in 2014, was recently appointed as the 'Commercial Attache' to Frankfurt."

Accordingly, the organization has "called on the Turkish, German and European public not to be spectators" as "otherwise, it will not only deteriorate the never-healing wounds of those who lost their loved ones in the massacre but it will further damage our sense of right and justice; will further reduce the capacity of peoples to participate in politics."

The petition has been addressed to the Chancellery and Foreign Ministry of Germany to the Presidency and Foreign Ministry of Turkey. (AEK/SD)