Chief of the SPD’s Integration and Diversity working group, Aziz Bozkurt, has stepped down from his position and issued a sharp critique of the party’s leadership. In a letter to the working group members-reported by “Der Spiegel”-Bozkurt explained that he will not run again as chair at the federal conference in late June. He emphasized that the decision is the result of a prolonged internal struggle rather than a spur‑of‑the‑moment choice. Bozkurt, who serves as a state secretary in Berlin’s Ministry for Labour and Social Affairs, described the current atmosphere in party executive meetings as “extremely lethargic” and said they leave him with a great deal of frustration and anger.
Although he acknowledges that some clever actors are willing to act differently, he accuses the party of remaining rigidly stuck in its bureaucratic mindset. “The narrow, government‑oriented view and the arbitrary content at the expense of a clear line form a corset that takes the SPD’s breath away” he writes. He especially calls out the party’s migration policy while in government, noting that the “most favorable resolutions” made at SPD party conventions are absent from both the coalition agreement and the government’s policies. In his view, the entire arena of interior policy is left to Interior Minister Dobrindt.
Bozkurt sees its most negative consequence in the implementation of the European asylum reform, GEAS. He criticises provisions that allow children to be detained, lawyers to be deprived of rights, and people to lose their freedom solely because of their status as asylum seekers. “Human rights are left behind-there’s no other way to say it-” he says. He was struck by the fact that only one SPD member voted against the GEAS bill, while two abstentions stood and two votes from the ‘Rentenrebellen’ (pension rebels) of the Union displayed more courage.
He admits that SPD parliamentary experts, in his view, have prevented even worse outcomes during negotiations with the Union, but he accuses the party’s top leaders and faction members of being ready to offer migration policy as a bargaining chip. “We practically relinquish our constitutional claim and allow others to determine how migration is discussed and regulated” he argues. “That is a leadership problem”.
Bozkurt does not name any individuals in his letter. Nevertheless, party secretary‑general Tim Klüssendorf publicly praised him, calling his approach “fresh and creative”. He also lauded former party chairmen Saskia Esken and Norbert Walter‑Borjans, recalling that “it seemed as if the SPD had found its social‑democratic voice again after a long time”. Both had broken the “logic of empty personal games and ideologically arbitrary political simulation”. Bozkurt added that unfortunately the impulse for sustained change has not been successfully institutionalised.
