Basel election campaign with spicy: kebab attack on Mustafa Atici

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Basel is proud of its cosmopolitanism. It is fitting that next Sunday a candidate with Turkish or Italian roots will enter the government council as the successor to new federal councilor Beat Jans (SP).

In the second round, Mustafa Atici (SP, 54) and Luca Urgese (FDP, 43) will compete against each other; both want to take over the education department. A fierce battle rages between the leftist and bourgeois camps, and Atici is exposed to fierce attacks. “In twenty years of politics, I have never experienced so many insults, aggression and threats as last month,” the innkeeper tells Blick. “That makes me think.”

Election campaign ‘can sometimes be relaxed’

A Facebook post by Andrea Strahm (69), parliamentarian from the canton of Basel, sparked a fundamental discussion about the style of election campaigns in Basel. The chairman of the Center/EPP parliamentary group in the Grand Council launched the slogan ‘Pasta instead of kebab’ as a recommendation for the civilian candidate Luca Urgese.

Strahm told the online outlet Bajour that the election campaign could be “casual” at times – but she was clear that “humor has never been the strength of the left.” Former SP president of Basel Roland Stark then asked when the slogan ‘Easter instead of Ramadan’ would follow.

Strahm insists her Facebook post was unique, funny and not worth mentioning. “I don’t know what’s supposed to be racist about that statement.” She didn’t even expect the commotion that ensued.

Conflicts take their toll on Atici

Whether funny or racist – Mustafa Atici does not want to comment on the slogan. But he admits that the arguments of the past few weeks have taken their toll. Especially since they often questioned his origins.

The Kurdish Atici opened Basel’s first kebab shop in 1996 and today sells kebab and beer in the St. Jakob Park, the stadium of FC Basel. He started his political career at the SP district association, served in the Grand Council for many years and became a national councilor in 2019. However, last fall Atici failed to win re-election. Basel has one seat less than in previous years, and the restaurateur lost.

After SP federal councilor Alain Berset announced his resignation last summer, Atici was the first to put himself forward as a candidate for his successor. Some people in Basel resented his advance because they saw it as diminishing Beat Jans’ chances and feared that Basel would lose again in Federal Council elections.
But now Atici could benefit from Jans’ election in Bern – by succeeding him in Basel’s governing council.

Source:Blick