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Elif Eralp, the Left Party’s mayoral frontrunner given security protection after threatsfor Berlin state premier, has been assigned special security protection after threats and hostile messages against her intensified on social media, according to reports in German and Turkish media.
Eralp is preparing to seek the Berlin state premiership after the Left Party emerged as the strongest party in the Sept. 20 election and moved toward cooperation with the Greens and Social Democratic Party, or SPD.
The additional protection comes after German weekly Der Spiegel published a report concerning Eralp’s security concerns and notes attributed to her during an interview approval process.
Berlin authorities normally provide dedicated security officers only to the state premier and the interior senator, according to the report. Eralp, however, is to receive protection because of what was described as an increased security threat.
She was also expected to attend her party’s convention in Berlin on Saturday accompanied by security personnel.
Der Spiegel said that during the approval process for an interview with Eralp, it received a document containing notes attributed to her.
According to the magazine, the notes said Eralp and her husband were afraid and that she was reluctant to publicly name certain individuals.
The report also said authorities had previously advised Eralp not to publicly identify specific people when speaking about organized crime.
Eralp’s spokesperson told Spiegel that she had faced insults, threats and attacks for months.
“In this general threat environment, security authorities advise that political problems not be reduced to individual people in public statements,” the spokesperson said.
Eralp’s office also asked the magazine to take her “personal security interests” into account, while Spiegel said it published the material because it considered the issue politically significant.
Following the report, Eralp said she would not allow anyone to intimidate her.
“I made it very clear. I will not let anyone intimidate me,” she said, adding that concern for her family was normal and natural.
Eralp said she had not abandoned her goal of becoming Berlin state premier and pledged to continue fighting organized crime, groups that glorify violence and terrorism.
“This struggle has the highest priority for me and for the future coalition,” she said.
Berlin Interior Senator Iris Spranger of the SPD also pledged protection for Eralp and her family.
The security arrangements were reported against the backdrop of earlier attacks on German politicians, including a paint-bag attack on then-Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer at a Green Party convention in Bielefeld in 1999 and a cake attack on Sahra Wagenknecht at a Left Party convention in Magdeburg in 2016.
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