Left party leadership distances itself from Koçak: withdraws from the Interior Committee

Now the left-wing faction leader is standing behind their comrades - and at the same time showing them their limits.

“Until further notice, until full transparency is achieved,” said parliamentary group leader Sören Pellmann in Berlin, Koçak will withdraw. Then we “discuss in solidarity” what consequences should follow. So far, people believe his statements “until something else comes to light.” Co-chair Heidi Reichinnek adds that Koçak has made it very clear that there is no place on the left for the glorification of terror and violence. “We believe him,” says Reichinnek.

Reichinnek and Pellmann now show their solidarity with Koçak, emphasizing that they believe him when he says he is distancing himself. Accordingly, he should retain his Bundestag mandate until it is fully clarified whether he actually has connections to pro-Palestinian actors on the one hand and members of the Remmo clan on the other.

However, there are limitations. According to his own statements, Koçak is withdrawing for the time being, which means he is not making any public appearances. At the same time, Pellmann explained that despite his active mandate, Koçak is letting at least one parliamentary activity be suspended: membership in the Interior Committee.

The seat there is particularly delicate. The committee deals with security-related issues and MPs have access to sensitive information.

“I can no longer believe in naivety”

Not everyone on the left is as understanding as Reichinnek and Pellmann. Left veteran Petra Pau took Koçak harshly to task on X. Pau sat for the Left in the Bundestag for 27 years, was deputy parliamentary group leader and most recently Bundestag Vice President. Like Koçak, she also came to parliament via a direct mandate from Berlin.

“I’ve had enough,” she wrote publicly to Koçak. "As a member of the Bundestag, you have a responsibility, I can no longer believe in naivety." Instead of taking time, he should take responsibility, demands Pau. She has been looking at his work for a year now and he is not achieving anything in the fight against right-wing extremism, anti-Semitism or antigypsyism. “Who actually does the work?” asks Pau.

Others on the left defend Koçak and now describe the critical reporting against him as “incitement.” Above all, the pro-Palestinian network within the party downplays the problem.

Issa Remmo is considered the head of the extended Remmo family, which came to Berlin from Lebanon in the 1980s and is held responsible for serious crimes.

We continue to hope for exploratory talks

Reichinnek also wants to decouple the Koçak case from the election victory of the Berlin Left. “We see what is happening, we examine it critically,” she said in Berlin. But it's also about what the people in Berlin chose. “They want a change in policy,” says Reichinnek. The formation of a government should not be overshadowed by the case.

However, it is not the first time that 47-year-old Koçak has attracted unpleasant attention. The Berlin public prosecutor's office is currently investigating him for forgery of documents after Koçak made a fake MP ID card for a video project. He also regularly provokes people online with rowdy appearances and, for example, denies Israel's right to exist. Among other things, he poses with the anti-Israel rapper “Dahabflex” in a video in front of the Reichstag building. “We let fascists burn,” sings the rapper, Koçak raises his middle finger into the camera.

There shouldn't be any such video shoots for now.