The German state continues to fear the flags of YPG/YPJ, who have garnered sympathy worldwide. There is no official ban in place in Germany against the organized forces in Western Kurdistan, but the Interior Ministry considered YPG/YPJ and PYD flags as PKK propaganda and banned their use in a notice issued on March 2, 2017.

Bavarian security forces in particular have been raiding homes of activists, most of whom are German, citing the YPG/YPJ flags and solidarity with Rojava as an excuse. Investigations have been launched on these grounds, the most recent of which has been launched against journalist Peter Schaber.

Schaber, an editor for the left-leaning Lower Class journal and the Junge Welt newspaper, was called in for a statement by the political cases department in the Berlin Police. Schaber is accused of “supporting a foreign terrorist organization” between February and November 2017, with reference to the Article 129B.

“I DIDN’T SUPPORT TERRORISM BUT THOSE WHO FIGHT TERRORISM”

Schaber has stayed in Syria and Rojava for a while, and written a book about his experience. He said he was surprised to hear about the investigation and added that he has supported the fight against terrorist ISIS, the societal model that is being developed and the communal system and equal life in Rojava.

The German journalist said nobody in their right mind would call YPG or YPJ a terrorist organization and added: “There are two reasons Germany targets YPG: First is their cooperation with the Erdogan regime, and the second is their fear of YPG’s ideas. The YPG is frightening for the capitalist system not because of their weapons but their ideas.”

DIE LINKE PROTESTS THE INVESTIGATION

Federal Parliament MP Ulla Jelpke protested the investigation launched by the Berlin police against journalist Peter Schaber and said the YPG is not banned nor classified as a “terrorist organization” in Germany and added that the investigation against Schaber constitutes an attack against press freedom.

As the Berlin police launched the investigation based on solidarity with the YPG, a similar investigation was closed in the Lower Saxony state. A banner that read, “Turkish forces commit murder in Rojava with German weapons - Long Live YPG/YPJ” was hanged on a historic building known as the Gasthof Meuchefitz (meeting hall) in the Wendland town as part of the demonstrations to condemn the Turkish state’s invasion of Afrin. Police raided the building in large numbers and confiscated the banner, and the Luneburg prosecutor’s office had launched an investigation against building manager and activist Hans-Erich Sauerteig. The prosecutor’s office that handled the investigation ruled that Sauerteig is not guilty and closed the case yesterday.

By early December, a local court in Gelsenkirchen ruled for the acquittal of activist Monika Gärtner-Engel, who was being investigated for carrying a YPG flag in a demonstration on March 20, 2018 protesting the Turkish state and their allied gangs’ invasion of Afrin.

The prosecutor argued that opening a YPG flag constitutes a crime, demanding a 200-Euro fine for Gärtner-Engel. But the court ruled that there was no crime committed, and acquitted her. The court stated that there is no ban against the YPG in Germany.

Many other local courts have ruled that carrying YPG flags does not constitute a crime. In a lawsuit about posting on a Facebook page held in the Aachel Criminal Cour of Peace, the court found the police at fault in the investigation against a Kurdistani person who was investigated for posting a YPG flag in a facebook group. Local courts in Frankfurt and Berlin have previously stated that carrying YPG, YPJ and PYD flags is allowed.

YPG VERSUS THE MARCH 2 NOTICE

The German Interior Ministry had sent a notice to the states on March 2, 2017 and demanded a ban of several Kurdish parties and organizations including PYD, YPG and YPJ. The ministry had claimed the ban was an “update” of the PKK ban which has been in place since 1993.