The Bremen left-wing politician Cindi Tuncel is already used to threats. Sometimes they come by phone, sometimes by email. Most of the time he gets the police involved. When Tuncel received another death threat via Instagram ten days ago, it felt different. More serious. “Death will find you” was written there – in Turkish and Kurdish.
WELT has a screenshot of the message. It was sent from an Instagram account with more than 29,000 followers. It belongs to Teknotell, a mobile phone shop in Kayseri in central Anatolia. In addition to the threatening message, Tuncel was sent a photo. It shows a desk with a huge Turkish flag hanging behind it.
There are many indications that the death threat is part of a series that began in the summer of 2021 at the latest and is behind a Turkish right-wing extremist.
So far, the victims of this series have mainly been left-wing, Kurdish, Yazidi and Jewish politicians and activists in Germany. Among those who made the news public are Civan Akbulut, a member of the Essen Integration Council, left-wing politicians Cansu Özdemir and Ezgi Güyildar, author Düzen Tekkal, political scientist Ismail Küpeli and Jewish activist Ruben Gerczikow.
Initially, death threats came from anonymous accounts, most of which included the word "Jitem" in their names. "Jitem" was the name of a paramilitary secret service organization believed to be responsible for several murders of Kurds in Turkey in the 1990s. Photos of machine guns gave the impression that the shipper was serious.
At some point he apparently switched to using a different account. That of the Teknotell store in Kayseri. And he presumably exposed himself: photos sent with the threats show a man with his hair shaved short. He is sitting at a desk. Behind: the huge Turkey flag, which can also be seen in Tuncel's death threat.
At that time, the Teknotel store was an official partner of the mobile operator Vodafone. Until recently, it was possible to look up the address and name of the operator on the mobile phone provider's website. The man's name is Tayfun Karakol.
The "Taz" managed to get in touch with Karakol in January and confronted him with the messages sent. The confirmed to have sent the threats. "From birth" he was a gray wolf, a Turkish right-wing extremist, the newspaper quoted him as saying. He fights against "fake Turks" who want to harm his country with their anti-Turkish activism.
Specialists from the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA), who are supporting the investigation into the series of threats, also confirmed after examining IP addresses that the threatening messages were sent from Kayseri. It remains unclear to this day how the broadcaster chose its victims - and where it got such detailed knowledge of the German political landscape. In an interview with the "Taz", Karakol, who was allegedly responsible, remained vague: he maintains contacts with the "Grey Wolves" in Germany and the Ditib mosque association.
When WELT confronted him via Instagram direct message on Tuesday, the Teknotell account wrote in Turkish: “You will recognize the power of the Turk. Germany filled its country with terrorists by feeding the PKK." Yes, he is Tayfun Karakol, he replies. How did he know the Bremen politician Tuncel? "Taz.de". Teknotel sends another photo. It shows the same man in front of the same desk. In front of him is a name tag: Tayfun Karakol. The Teknotel account accepts a video call. The man can be seen in front of the camera from the photos.
Is there a chance that the sender will be prosecuted in Turkey? Do the BKA specialists have new insights? The authority left a request unanswered until Wednesday morning.
Tuncel has little hope. The police gave him advice on how to protect himself and his family. However, he does not believe in legal consequences for the perpetrator. "What should the Bremen police do if someone is sitting in Turkey?" he says in an interview with WELT. But it is important to be more vigilant in Germany too. "Because people who represent these ideologies have also settled in many areas in our country," he warns.
The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution currently assumes that there are 11,000 supporters of the Turkish right-wing extremist “Ülkücü” movement living in Germany. According to the most recent report by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, they live out their “mostly racist or anti-Semitic enemy images” in different ways. There is a lot of activity on social media. But even in public encounters with political opponents, especially Kurds, “the high potential for violence that prevails in the unorganized scene is repeatedly shown”.
