Conservative parliamentarian writes for extreme right-wing, anti-Semitic Paper. Mauthausen Committee demands that PM Kurz act
Press release 08 Jan. 2018
Efgani Dönmez was once an MP for the Green party, where his career ended after he made multiple highly questionable statements. Last year Dönmez joined Sebastian Kurz and since October has been MP for Kurz’s ÖVP (Austrian People’s Party, Austrian conservative party). Now he is drifting to the far-right periphery. "Dönmez wrote an article for the current edition of the extreme-right magazine Info-Direkt. The magazine is exploiting this for their public relations. In this way, the ÖVP MP is directly supporting the dissemination of racist conspiracy theories and vilest anti-Semitism," said Willi Mernyi, Chairman of Mauthausen Committee Austria (MKÖ), with disgust.
Info-Direkt incites against Jews in Nazi manner
Mernyi advises us of the content of Info-Direkt: "In a manner reminiscent of the Nazis, the publication denounces Jews as 'masterminds of globalization' and attacks 'the House of Rothschild' and George Soros' personally. Jews are accused of promoting the 'systematic flooding of Europe with foreigners' to achieve a 'heterogeneous, uprooted human race'. For Info-Direkt, no other conspiracy theory is too absurd either: For example, they allege that the US government itself carried out the terror attacks of 11 September 2001 and that American interests are behind the Ebola epidemic. Naturally they offer not the least evidence for all their inciting nonsense."
Kremlin fidelity in Linz
Already in January 2016 the prestigious German weekly newspaper Die Zeit reported about close relations of Info-Direkt to Russian media with affinity to the authoritarian Putin regime. The article headline appropriately reads "Kremlin fidelity in Linz". "No wonder that Info-Direkt disdains democratic media: It insults them as the 'lying press' and their journalists as 'writing whores'," observes Mernyi.
Self-acclaimed "Defender of Europe"
The producers of Info-Direkt also co-organized the extreme right-wing congress "Defenders of Europe" in Linz. In autumn 2016 this congress triggered weeks of widespread protest: concentration camp survivors from many nations took a stand alongside many prominent personalities, including former ÖVP Vice Chancellor Erhard Busek. Because of the massive resistance, for the planned return of the congress on 3 March 2018, despite multiple attempts, the organizers found no public venue. Instead, the organizers (including once again the Info-Direkt editors) had to divert to Aistersheim Palace near Grieskirchen, the property of an FPÖ functionary.
Dönmez is unacceptable as MP
Mernyi summarizes: "When an MP writes for an extreme right-wing and anti-Semitic magazine, then either he has no idea [about democracy] or his action is deliberately antidemocratic. In either case, he is unfit as MP. In the name of Mauthausen survivors, I demand that Chancellor and ÖVP Head Sebastian Kurz immediately take action and implement the necessary consequences!"
