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As in:

In Frankfurt hatte das vergangenes Wochenende nicht geklappt. Obwohl das Bundesinnenministerium zuvor klargestellt hatte, dass die PKK eine Terrororganisation sei und das Zeigen von Fotos ihres seit 1999 in der Türkei inhaftierten Anführers Abdullah Öcalan verboten ist, war der Demonstrationszug in Frankfurt voll von seinem Gesicht.
[...]
Newroz. Das ist in diesem Jahr alles andere als ein kurdisches Freudenfest. Vor zwei Jahren noch, als der türkische Staatspräsident Recep Tayyip Erdoğan im Kurdenkonflikt auf Friedenskurs war, wurde an dieser Stelle eine Friedensbotschaft Öcalans vorgelesen. Die Stimmung: Erwartungsvoll. Die Behörden hatten sogar die Verehrung von "Apo", so nennen seine Anhänger Öcalan, geduldet. Damals herrschten in Diyarbakır Frankfurter Verhältnisse. Ein großer Aufreger in der türkischen Politik war das nicht.Sueddeutsche 23.3.17

2
  • In case we knew when "damals" is supposed to be we could probably answer - Your question cannot be answered without more context.
    – tofro
    Mar 28, 2017 at 8:10
  • Added source and context + more context
    – Takkat
    Mar 28, 2017 at 8:20

2 Answers 2

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»Frankfurter Verhältnisse« is used to compare the circumstances¹ in two locations, meaning

in Diyarbakır we had a similar situation as in Frankfurt

Namely to tolerate the adoration of Abdullah Öcalan.

¹On this kind of comparison can be said: The current circumstances are meant in at least one of the locations.

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  • 1
    I thoughs so too - at first - but when reading the article it became clear that the situation Frankfurter Verhältnisse references was the opposite of riots.
    – Takkat
    Mar 28, 2017 at 10:27
  • @Takkat: Danke für den Tipp, ich glaube, du hast Recht, habe meine Antwort angepasst.
    – Pollitzer
    Mar 28, 2017 at 11:06
  • Ah - und jetzt stimmt Deine Antwort auch (ich hatte völlig übersehen, dass die aktuelle Demo ja auch in FFM war) :)
    – Takkat
    Mar 28, 2017 at 11:13
  • 1
    I would add that the expression usually refers to current circumstances. It's something you find in the news, when the context is supposed to be known from the reader, just search "Hamburger Verhältnisse" etc.
    – Yves
    Mar 28, 2017 at 22:23
  • @Yves: Good point, made an update.
    – Pollitzer
    Mar 29, 2017 at 7:01
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This is a great question! There are three things we Germans usually associate with Frankfurt (except sausages):

The Frankfurter Nationalversammlung (Frankfurt national assembly) was the first, temporarily successful attempt at regular meetings by democratic representatives of the people. They viewed themselves as a parliament. However, it was never legitimized by the Prussian emperor or the kings of several other German states. As such, it was a revolutionary movement for democracy.

It was however tolerated by those rulers for some time (~May 1848–May 1849). During this time, the delegates made plans for many democratic reforms (a democratic constitution, removal of nobility rights, abolition of the death penalty, to name just a few.)

When the monarchs finally perceived it as too great a threat, they persecuted the delegates from their states and threatened to simply start a war on Frankfurt, and the project had to be abandoned.

Does anything seem related to the quote in the question?

  • a disloyal, rebellious province: Kurdish Diyarbakır
  • a movement for people's rights: Öcalan and his followers
  • Officials from the ruling powers tolerate it for some time …
  • … but finally destroy it.

So I believe the author here uses Frankfurter Verhältnisse to stand for the state of the German democratic movement in 1848.


As more and important context has been added to the question, it is likely that the author really just intended to compare the actual demos in the two cities, as Pollitzer's answer says. However, because this history of Frankfurt seems such a good fit, I'm going to let my historical explanation stand as well.

2
  • Wenn Du Goethe und die Frankfurter Schule nennst - wieso nicht den DFB oder die Banken? Mar 28, 2017 at 20:23
  • Oder die Skyline, oder die Börse... Ja, ich habe einiges vernachlässigt, wollte halt auf Kultur und Geschichte hinaus. Mar 28, 2017 at 20:26

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