A Twitter post by the Neukölln social councilor Falko Liecke (CDU) caused outrage on the Internet. The new federal chairwoman of the Greens, Ricarda Lang, had posted a photo of herself and her co-chairman Omid Nouripour online. The caption: “Now we are officially elected. The team is in place, the tasks are big. Let’s go.” Liecke: “I wish you a happy ‘Allahu Akbar’”.
Whether the correct translation is “God is great,” “God is greater,” or “God is greatest” – all three are possible – the excitement was considerable. Finally, the salute is often chosen as a rallying cry by Islamist terrorists. Liecke was accused of racism in the Twitter community. The blog Union Watch asked: “Does Mr. Liecke want to put Mr. Nouripour in the corner of terrorists?” The Neukölln SPD deputy Marcel Hopp formulated it more finely when he asked: “What actually happened to the ‘Congratulations’ among democrats?”
Falko Liecke has been known in Berlin for many years as a politician of clear, not always clever words. In his home district of Neukölln, he is one of the pioneers in the fight against clan crime in the district – which means he knows the former mayors Heinz Buschkowsky and Franziska Giffey as well as the current town hall boss Martin Hikel (all SPD) at his side.
However, even the use of the term clan crime is controversial. Critics speak of “fear-mongering of Muslims”; the expression “organized crime” is more correct. Be that as it may: A short time later, Liecke deleted his tweet – and immediately included a statement: “There is legitimate reason for criticism when Mr. Nouripours says that the task of the Bundestag is to implement parts of the Sharia in our legal system. But the nature of my criticism was misleading in this form. I regret that and have therefore deleted the tweet. ”Perhaps in the next tweet he will also be able to spell the name of the Green leader correctly.
The background to Liecke’s statement was apparently mostly shortened and therefore misleadingly reproduced statements by Omid Nouripour from a Bundestag debate in October 2018. Contrary to what was claimed, the Green politician did not say at the time that parts of the Sharia should be “introduced” in Germany. He said that those interpretations of religious beliefs that are compatible with the Basic Law can be applied in Germany.