Politics

German FOCUS magazine ‘regrets’ giving ‘false impression’ on KRG rep. in Germany: statement

FOCUS is one of the leading weekly news magazines in Germany alongside other top magazines, including Spiegel and Stern.

Halgurd Sherwani 2021/01/12 10:10

The issue of German FOCUS magazine, which expressed its regret on the "misleading" report about KRG Representative in Berlin Dilshad Barzani.

Kurdistan Berlin Dilshad Barzani FOCUS Magazine Germany Krg

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The German magazine, FOCUS, said it “regrets” publishing a previous report about Dilshad Barzani, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Representative in Berlin, which “gave a false impression” about the KRG rep that was “misleading and wrong.”

The statement was published by FOCUS on Saturday in its second issue of 2021, in which it expressed its regrets regarding a report that was published in issue 5 of 2020, headlined “The Mysterious Friend.” The article was about an alleged German police investigation into the leading Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP)—of which Dilshad Barzani is a member—and about the Barzani family, in general.

In its 2020 report, the magazine claimed the opponents of the Barzani family and the KDP “live in danger.” It also mentioned two separate and unexplained car accidents, in which an Iraqi investigative magistrate, who was responsible for charges of corruption and money laundering, was killed, and an Iraqi intelligence officer was injured in Germany.

“This article could easily raise the false impression that Dilshad Barzani was being investigated for corruption, money laundering, and other crimes,” the magazine said.

Therefore, “FOCUS regrets the entire process and explicitly states herewith that we no longer adhere to the views expressed in that article,” the German magazine added in its clarification, stating that its Editor-in-Chief Robert Schneider visited Dilshad Barzani and “apologized to him personally.”

Following “two preliminary injunctions” the Berlin District Court issued to the magazine, in which it “banned the repetition of these and other statements in the article,” FOCUS decided to “suspend the article in question,” which included “incorrect” information from its sources.

The German FOCUS magazine statement in German language, in which it expressed its regret on the 'misleading' report on KRG Representative Mr. Dilshad Barzani in Berlin.(Photo: ) — The German FOCUS magazine statement in the German language, in which it expressed its regret about the “misleading” report on KRG Representative in Berlin, Dilshad Barzani.

FOCUS is one of the leading weekly news magazines in Germany alongside other top magazines, including Spiegel and Stern.

The magazine regrets that its report “was repeated abroad to damage the Barzani family, the KDP, and the government overall,” adding that Dilshad Barzani has a “pleasant, trusting relationship with German government agencies” and his family is considered “a guarantor of stability and peace in German-Kurdish relations, as well as in the Kurdistan Region.”

Editing by Karzan Sulaivany