Who is Ferat Kocak? - A radical activist from Berlin-Neukölln will represent the Left in the Bundestag

The polling stations in Berlin had been closed for just over two hours when deafening cheers broke out in the large hall that Ferat Kocak had rented especially for his election party. The man who polarized his party like few others and "made the impossible possible" in his home district of Neukölln, as he later explained, stepped onto the stage.

"We have made damn history here today. This is our day. We have won," Kocak shouts to his almost 500 euphoric supporters. The hall explodes, the crowd chants loudly: "All together against fascism."

But who is the man who, from his own perspective, secured his party its first ever direct mandate in a "West German" constituency? And what makes the 45-year-old tick? He first worked for Allianz as an economist, then found his way into anti-capitalist networks via Campact, and now - four years after his equally surprising entry into the Berlin House of Representatives - is a member of the German Bundestag?

Koçak, whose parents come from Anatolia but gave birth to their son in Berlin, became known as a victim of a series of right-wing extremist attacks in Neukölln. In 2018, an arson attack was carried out on Koçak's car, which was parked on his family's property in the south of Neukölln.

The flames spread to the house, but were extinguished in time. "My parents could have died," said Koçak, who says he is still traumatized today.

Koçak fought together with other victims - the series includes more than 70 individual acts - for clarification. He appeared as a co-plaintiff in the criminal trial against the two suspects known to be right-wing extremists. In the appeal process, they were acquitted in the first instance and sentenced to several years in prison, but appealed.

He polarized the proceedings. Koçak repeatedly accused the security authorities of serious failings, even complicity, and demanded, among other things, that the police be disarmed. More recently, "the Neuköllner," as Koçak calls himself, attracted attention by taking a stand on Israel's war against Hamas.

"There is no justification for terrorism," he wrote in late January on the "Abgeordnetenwatch" portal, "Israel's brutal attack with tens of thousands of deaths is even less justifiable." He called for a halt to German arms exports to Israel. "The occupation must end." At the same time, he complained about "restrictions on basic rights" during pro-Palestinian protests. "This is an attack on our basic rights. Here in Neukölln, we will not remain silent."

Koçak himself was a supporter of the "Marx 21" network, which has recently split into three parts, a Trotskyist group that observers say has sect-like structures. Supporters of "Marx 21" see themselves as "anti-imperialists" and support the "right of the Palestinians to resist" - "unconditionally".

“Marx 21” interpreted the terrorist attacks of October 7, 2023 as a “counterattack”: the Palestinians had merely exercised their “right to resist.”

Kocak personally maintains close contact with pro-Palestinian activists; one of his closest colleagues is the chairman of the association behind “Marx 21” and organizes its congresses. Kocak has also registered several pro-Palestinian demonstrations in which anti-Semites also participated.

He and other members, especially of the Neukölln Left, are considered the reason why former icons such as Klaus Lederer and Elke Breitenbach left the party in dispute. His candidacy for the Bundestag was also viewed with suspicion by the party's national leadership. But no one there would have believed Koçak's landslide victory in Neukölln - he received 30 percent of the first votes and was thus more than ten points ahead of his opponents - possible.

There is much to suggest that Koçak, who sees himself as a left-wing movement figure, will be even more aggressive in the future, including within the party. His triumph in Neukölln has given him a reputation that overshadows the other winners of direct mandates for the Left.

"We didn't run an election campaign, we built a movement," Koçak explained on election night. The future leadership of the Left parliamentary group will have to find a way to deal with this movement and its expectations.