Germany: Muslim politician receives death threats

COLOGNE

A leading German-Turkish politician said on Sunday he has received numerous Islamophobic letters and death threats in recent weeks, ahead of European Parliament (EP) elections on May 26.

Haluk Yildiz, the leader of the pro-immigration Alliance for Innovation and Justice (BIG), said the letters were sent by some unknown persons and included xeonophobic insults and threats.

“In one of the letters they were saying that we have crossed the line. They were claiming that it is only Germans who have a say in this country,” he said, adding that they take these threats very seriously, due to increased neo-Nazi violence in recent years.

“But such threats will not deter us, we will continue our political struggle here,” he said.

Yildiz is the leading candidate of BIG, a small party founded in 2010 by a group of migrants in Germany.

The party is hoping to win a seat at the European Parliament for the first time.