What Ersin B. says in the Turkish news program “Türkçe Haber” sounds bad: after an exceptional psychological situation, after bullying, after indecency.
In 2018 he moved with his family to a small village in the district of Göppingen near Ulm. B., whose real name is different, claims that he, his partner and their children were not welcome in the small community.
“We were the only Turkish family in the neighborhood. Our neighbor and the entire apartment building turned against us from day one.” B. is shocked by the hostility that is said to have been shown towards his family.
Insults such as “Dirty Turks, go away!” are said to have been repeated again and again. B. also tells of dead mice and swastikas on the front door. In 2022 he, his wife Ayla and the children moved out of the multi-party bloc.
“I could hardly believe my eyes,” says a neighbor
The story could end at this point. But she isn’t. Because the people who have lived in the same house for all these years are stunned. “I could hardly believe my eyes when I read B’s descriptions,” says Achim Mayer to FOCUS online.
Mayer and his wife Annette are participants in a video conference. A total of six former and current residents of the apartment building near Göppingen have gathered. They all want to remain anonymous.
At the same time, it is important for them to describe their view of things. They were there when the new neighbors moved in, they met them in the stairwell and in the garden. Family B. was part of their everyday life for a long time.
“In the beginning we got on well with our new neighbors,” says Mayer. That was in May 2018 when Ersin B. moved into the house with his wife and children. He also gives some examples of how to be nice to one another.
B’s children drew pictures for Mayer and his wife. The couple, in turn, gave the little ones sweets. “The family then turned away from us from one day to the next,” says Mayer.
Turkish family is said to have insulted neighbors as Nazis
The man with the thick, black glasses cannot explain how this happened. All he knows is that it came to this. Mayer claims that B’s wife Ayla insulted him as a Nazi when he returned home from shopping.
“There was no reason at all.” That’s what Ersin B. and his wife told the Turkish news portal „Newspaper Stamp“ said sounds very different: “The Germans put us Turks under pressure and intimidate us.”
Who is right, who is telling the truth? It’s difficult to judge from the outside. In any case, the neighbors can hardly contain themselves. Not only Achim and Annette Mayer want to vent their anger.
The B. family was the troublemaker in the house, not them, say the participants in the video conference. It is unclear whether they have colluded. In any case, the anecdotes told are varied.
Birgit Schulz, for example, lived with her boyfriend in the apartment building until 2021. She still remembers how it all began, remembering her first conversations with Ayla B.
“I often chatted with her in the stairwell. I never would have thought that a situation like the one we had would come up,” says Schulz. She also noticed a change of heart on the part of the Bs.
“There came a point when I stopped leaving the house without a camera”
“Once I wanted to go shopping in the evening when Ms. B. suddenly insulted me as hypocritical,” says Schulz. That’s how it went on. The ex-neighbor reports constant accusations that “at some point I no longer left the house without a camera”.
Once, she wanted to take out the garbage and saw that B’s bike had fallen over. “I filmed my way to the containers because I was sure that Ms. B. would blame me,” says Schulz. And that’s apparently how it happened, if you believe their descriptions.
Other neighbors report loud music that the B. family used to harass the entire house. “They put Bluetooth speakers in the stairwell and in the garden. Something was blaring all day.”
In addition, the Turkish family is said to have simply cut down bushes that other residents would have planted. On the grounds that they are their plants and they can do whatever they want with them.
There were ads on both sides
The police and public prosecutor’s office in Ulm know about the case. Both authorities do not want to give FOCUS online any more detailed information about the dispute.
The reason: those affected are not public figures. In the case of disputes between neighbors, there is basically no public interest, according to a written response from the Ulm police headquarters.
Nevertheless, the events make waves. The neighbors participating in the video conference keep talking about ads. Family B. is said to have accused individual neighbors of insults, among other things, and the neighbors, in turn, felt threatened by the Bs.
“Ms. B. racially insulted my wife and called me a child molester,” says Michael Blau, who like everyone else wants to remain anonymous. He explains that the B. family did not appear at the court hearing, but were fined for defamation.
The B. family is said not to have appeared at the court hearing
In the absence of information from the responsible authorities, it is not possible to independently verify whether this is true. After the video conference, however, Blau sends an email to our editorial team, in which he gives the exact file number and the date of the court hearing.
Just like the Mayer couple, who reported the B. family seven times. For bodily harm, damage to property, insult, coercion and false suspicion.
Family B. is also said to have installed cameras in the house and garden: According to “Türkçe Haber”, to record the racist hostilities of the neighbors. Because the family didn’t know what to do anymore.
A clip shown on the show shows a woman standing in front of an open window. She verbally abuses the B. couple’s teenage daughter.
It looks as if she wants to slap her through the open window. Later she throws a flower pot into the apartment.
On Turkish television, B. was annoyed that the police had not taken the material seriously. That the whole thing even resulted in a fine for illegal filming by the neighbors.
Every story has two sides
It remains unclear who exactly can be seen on the video and whether it is really a resident who is harassing the B. family. In any case, the neighbors are appalled that they were secretly filmed.
At the same time, she is relieved that the couple and their children moved out last year. Another Turkish family now lives in the apartment. “We get along great with these people,” say the participants of the video conference.
It is important for them to emphasize that they have no prejudices against people of other nationalities. “We are not racists and find it a shame how the Bs portray us in public,” say several attendees.
In the end, it remains unclear who teased whom, who insulted whom and who violated which rules of the house rules. But as always, every story has two sides.
