Bekir Altaş, Secretary General of Islamic Community Millî Görüş (IGMG), released a statement on the elections in the State of Saxony-Anhalt. “In the State of Saxony-Anhalt, one out of five people have voted for the far-right. The good news is that it is possible to form a government without the AfD and any other way should not be resorted to.” said Altaş and continued his statement as follows:

“It is possible to form the Saxony-Anhalt state government without the AfD. After the state elections, this is a good news and also a democratic victory. However, it is also equally sad that one in five people in the state had voted for this far-right party, which is openly harboring Islamophobia. In this regard, the election results must be considered as a sign revealing that there is no room for slacking in the fight against racism.

The AfD not being in the government is alone not enough. The goal must be to not let the AfD get elected in any parliament. To be able to achieve this, it is necessary that the whole society must be in solidarity against all organizations that are hostile towards certain groups of people by targeting them. We think it is worthwhile to remind the politicians again their responsibility to support the anti-far-right projects carried out by the civil society and allocate the necessary resources. The real issue in the upcoming discussions on coalitions is not how to share the positions and offices but to say no to racists and far-right. To even think otherwise will give a bleak message towards the society and mean stepping back in the fight against racism.”