Erdogan is currently having this letter distributed to Turks in Germany

The Turkish governing party AKP distributes letters from President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to citizens of Turkish origin in Germany. In the letter, which is available to WELT and has been handed out in mosque communities and Turkish associations since September, Erdogan calls on Turks living abroad to support them in the parliamentary and presidential elections next year.

“Next year's elections are crucial both to crown the 100th anniversary of our republic and to realize the vision of 2053. I have full confidence that you will continue to support the future of our country to the best of your ability."

Erdogan presented his "Vision 2053" for the first time in 2020. Earlier this year, he announced plans to turn Turkey into a "logistics superpower" by 2053, with a view to various infrastructure projects. Around 1.5 million Turks in Germany are entitled to vote in next year's elections.

In the letter, Erdogan looks back on the AKP's government phase, which has lasted since 2001. The party started 21 years ago with the "goal of a Greater Turkey". “You, as our citizens living abroad, are an essential element of this blessed march. Wherever a citizen of ours lives, we as a state will stand by you."

For years, Erdogan's rhetoric has been using neo-Ottoman and Pan-Turkist ideas that advocate Turkey's return to its former strength and grandeur. The Turkish President often refers to the national pact Misak-i Milli, which was formulated by the Turkish independence movement after the First World War and provided for a border to be drawn including parts of Syria, Iraq and Greece.

According to Erdogan, his government is "the first Turkish government to prepare an election program for citizens abroad and to grant a separate section in the government program". "We have built a Turkey that everyone is proud of, no matter where they live." The AKP had "appointed thousands of teachers and religious officials for Turks abroad so that our children in the society in which they live can exist without forgetting their language, religion and culture”.

The letter explicitly mentions the establishment of the Yunus Emre Institute and the Maarif Foundation, educational institutions of the Turkish state that are also active in Germany.

The election campaign of the Erdogan party in Germany is already in full swing. In the past few weeks, AKP MPs have traveled to Germany dozens of times to campaign for votes in the communities of the Turkish mosque associations Ditib and IGMG (Milli Görüs) and at election campaign events of the UID lobby group.

In September, after visiting Ditib mosques in Mönchengladbach and Duisburg, AKP MP Ismail Tamer announced on Twitter that he had "handed over a letter from President Erdogan" to the community. The events thwart the efforts of the Islamic associations to publicly present themselves as independent of the Turkish state.

In March, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution informed WELT AM SONNTAG that it was to be assumed that the AKP would try during the election campaign to "bundle the forces of associations in Germany with a large number of members and to coordinate their activities". The UID has considerable mobilization potential in Germany, which came into play in the constitutional referendum in April 2017 and in the parliamentary and presidential elections in 2018.

Most recently, the UID organized an election campaign event in Nuremberg with long-standing Health Minister Recep Akdag. According to media reports, in addition to officials from the Turkish Consulate General, those responsible for Ditib also took part.

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