Two Kurdish youths were attacked by Turkish nationalists in Munich on Friday 16 October.
Azad Yusuf Bingöl and İnan Ercik were exposed to hate speech and then physically assaulted by a group of six people on a neighbourhood bus.
“The group was a bit drunk and started shouting slogans like ‘Our homeland cannot be divided'”, Bingöl told Artı Gerçek.
“Our homeland cannot be divided” is a famous slogan among nationalist and fascist groups in Turkey and it is often used against Kurds.
After staying silent for a while, Bingöl and Ercik reacted to the group and asked them who they were talking to.
“My friend and I are known as political activists”, said Bingöl. “We are known by the Turkish fascists in our neighbourhood. We got on the bus and they took the same bus. One of them was wearing a uniform with a Turkish flag on it. They started yelling at us”. Bingöl added that the group said the shawl that his friend was wearing was the problem.
Ercik was wearing a shawl with yellow, red and green colours, which together comprise the colours (kesk û sor û zer) of the Kurdish flag and symbolise the Kurdish struggle for freedom.
One of the attackers touched the shawl Ercik was wearing and repeatedly said, “Our homeland cannot be divided”. After the incident İnan Ercik asked the bus driver to call the police and close the doors of the bus.
“They ran after him and attacked him, and my friend’s nose was broken in the attack”, said Bingöl. Both Bingöl and Ercik were brutally attacked by the group and there are bruises on their bodies. The group escaped after the arrival of the ambulance and the police.
Germany does not take racist attacks seriously
The attackers are continuing to intimidate Bingöl and Ercik by sending messages and threatening their family. They warn them against calling the police.
“However, most of the time people who commit such attacks here are not punished”, said Bingöl. “German police do not consider these cases to be racist. They only see these incidents as problems among migrants. Unfortunately the fascists can attack Kurds, Alevis, Armenians, leftists, and socialists, confident that the German authorities will not intervene”.
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