ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A Kurdish member of Germany’s Left Party (Die Linke) has rejected allegations that he forged an identification card to allow another person to enter the German parliament, saying the incident was part of a role-swap video and that the visitor entered using his own official ID.
Ferat Kocak, 47, “filmed a social media video under the theme of a role reversal entitled 'Ferat Tausch [Ferat Swap]’”, he explained in a Facebook post on Friday.
“As part of the project,” Kocak worked for a day at a traditional street kiosk, “while the kiosk owner visited the German Bundestag in return,” his statement added.
The incident dates back to March, when Kocak swapped roles with Haydo Caglar, a prominent social media personality and owner of a well-known breakfast kiosk in Berlin's Neukolln district, for an episode of the series.
The kiosk owner presented the German parliamentarian with a name tag featuring his shop’s logo. In return, Kocak gave him a “symbolic prop ‘Bundestag’ crafted in green” by his office that “bore no resemblance to an official Bundestag identification card,” the statement explained.
“The kiosk owner was properly registered and entered the Bundestag routinely by presenting his official government-issued ID document,” Kocak noted, saying the “allegation” appeared to have stemmed from the prop being noticed during a security check at the Bundestag.
Berlin prosecutors have reportedly decided to take Kocak to court over allegations of identity-document forgery after the visitor was found carrying the prop bearing the lawmaker’s name.
Kocak’s office strongly rejected the allegations, maintaining that the card was produced solely as a prop for the social media video and was not used to gain access to parliament.
Born in West Berlin to a Kurdish-Alevi family from Turkey, Kocak was elected to the Berlin state parliament in 2021.
In February 2025, he won a direct mandate in the Berlin-Neukolln constituency, entering the Bundestag.
Seven Kurds were elected to the German parliament in the 2025 federal elections.
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