The publicist and political scientist Ferda Ataman is to become the new Federal Commissioner for Anti-Discrimination. But there is dissatisfaction with the personnel proposed by the federal cabinet on Wednesday.
The federal cabinet’s proposal to make publicist Ferda Ataman anti-discrimination officer has met with criticism.
Several politicians from the Union and FDP expressed their disapproval of the personnel proposal that the cabinet forwarded to the Bundestag for a vote on Wednesday. Ataman received support from the ranks of the SPD and the Greens, among others.
The parliamentary manager of the CSU parliamentary group, Stefan Müller, called Ataman a “blatant miscast” in the “Bild” newspaper (Thursday). “Again, a left-wing activist is being promoted to a taxpayer-funded government office.” So far, Ataman has primarily attracted attention “with verbal failures towards people without a migration background”.
There is also resistance in the ranks of the coalition partner FDP. MP Linda Teuteberg tweeted: “A proposal to the German Bundestag that I cannot vote for.” The Bundestag could decide on the election of Ataman as early as next week.
Ataman had caused discussions with a “Spiegel” column in 2020 when she defended the term “potato” for Germans without a migration background. Previously, she had assumed that the Home Ministry, then led by Horst Seehofer (CSU), was “primarily symbolic politics for potential right-wing voters”. Seehofer drew consequences and then stayed away from an integration meeting with Ataman in the Chancellery.
There were also very violent reactions on the social platforms Twitter and Facebook. The author and Islamism expert Ahmad Mansour commented on Twitter: “Rather federal commissioner for division and identity politics”. With this proposal, the federal government is showing that it has “no desire” to deal with the issue of racism in a differentiated way, Mansour explained.
Other users accused Ataman of deleting previous tweets that could be interpreted as polemical. She deleted her private tweets from her account for reasons of neutrality, Ataman told the German Press Agency on Thursday. They are still available on the Internet, just like her other publications, she explained. Regarding the general criticism of her person, she said that “out of respect for Parliament” she did not want to comment further before the decision in the Bundestag. After her appointment, Ataman tweeted that she was happy about the nomination and the great popularity.
Ataman received a lot of praise from Federal Family Minister Lisa Paus (Greens): “Ferda Ataman stands for great commitment to an inclusive, democratic society. I’m sure that as the new head of the federal anti-discrimination agency, she will give a strong voice to all those who experience discrimination in Germany,” Paus wrote on Wednesday in the family ministry’s statement on the cabinet decision.
The former CDU leader and candidate for chancellor, Armin Laschet, also commented positively on the cabinet’s proposal, unlike other representatives of his party. “Dear Ferda Ataman, I congratulate you from the bottom of my heart on your appointment as the new Federal Commissioner for Anti-Discrimination,” wrote Laschet on Twitter. Ataman had worked as a speechwriter for Laschet during his time as NRW integration minister (2005-2010).
The SPD politician Sawsan Chebli tweeted that the attacks against Ataman and others “who are Muslims or are read as such” were systematic. Among other things, she criticized the fact that accounts and public appearances were “scanned” in order to exert pressure and influence personnel decisions.
Source: Stern
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