Hamburg Office for the Protection of the Constitution attempts to silence member of parliamentWe will not be intimidated!

18 November 2025

Declaration of solidarity with Deniz Çelik (MdHB)

After Deniz Çelik, Vice-President of the Hamburg Parliament, spoke out against the reintroduction of the standard inquiry in a press release, the Hamburg Office for the Protection of the Constitution is now attempting to intimidate him and threatening legal action. On Monday, 3 November 2025, Çelik received a letter on behalf of the Hamburg Office for the Protection of the Constitution. In it, he was asked to sign a cease-and-desist declaration under threat of legal proceedings. Specifically, Çelik was to undertake to refrain in future from stating that the Office for the Protection of the Constitution ‘has repeatedly attracted attention for protecting right-wing networks’.

A look at history provides a shocking amount of evidence of how the Office for the Protection of the Constitution has supported and strengthened right-wing structures. Whether it be the NPD ban proceedings, which failed due to an extensive network of informants, or entanglements in the NSU complex. Now, with the introduction of routine checks in the public service, this institution is also to be entrusted with checking the constitutional loyalty of applicants. In the past, we have seen who is particularly affected by these occupational bans: as a result of the so-called Radikalenerlass (Radicals Decree) of 1972, millions of applicants for public service were screened by means of standard inquiries, with progressive voices and trade unionists being targeted in particular. And even today, occupational bans are once again affecting these voices, as can be seen in the example of Lisa Poettinger from Bavaria and other examples.

Deniz Çelik's statement has strengthened the protest against the reintroduction of the standard inquiry, and now he is being silenced and intimidated. We, the AStA of the University of Hamburg, stand in solidarity with Deniz Çelik against this attempt at intimidation and call on the Hamburg Office for the Protection of the Constitution to withdraw its request and refrain from taking legal action.