of The Left. During the 2013–17 parliamentary term, Bartsch advocated for a federal coalition between the Left and the SPD. Ahead of the 2017 German presidential election, Bartsch supported the prospect of a joint centre-left candidate supported by the SPD, Left, and Greens. After the SPD rejected this proposal, the Left refused to support SPD candidate Frank-Walter Steinmeier. In response to a 2011 incident in which several members of The Left refused to participate in a minute of silence for victims of the Berlin Wall, Bartsch suggested that members who refused to condemn the Wall should leave the party. He also distanced himself from a congratulatory birthday letter, signed by party co-leaders Gesine Lötzsch and Klaus Ernst, sent to Fidel Castro by members of the party. In 2017, Bartsch stated that former Stasi employees should not always be excluded from government office, believing that a critical assessment of each individual is necessary. He also argued against characterising East Germany as an injustice state (Unrechtsstaat), describing the usage of the term as a "cudgel" lacking nuance. He stated: "It is undisputed that there was serious injustice and victims of it in the GDR. It is also indisputable that there were areas of the rule of law in the GDR." Bartsch accused the German government of delivering a weak response to the 2016 Turkish purges, and demanded that more pressure should be put the Turkish government to respect democracy and human rights. Controversy In early January 2010, Bartsch was accused of disloyalty by Left parliamentary leader Gregor Gysi after passing information to Der Spiegel about the retirement of party leader Oskar Lafontaine. Bartsch denied this, as well as allegations that he sought to succeed Lafontaine as chairman, and defended his record as federal managing officer. However, he announced that he would not seek re-election to the position at the party congress in May. In September 2015, shortly before Bartsch's election as parliamentary co-leader, Die Welt reported on leaked documents showing that, in 2012, he privately commissioned Thomas Westphal to draft a detailed report on the members of The Left's 44-member executive committee. The file indicated the views of each member and their position in the party. Most controversially, each was classified according to allegiance: allies were labeled Z for "reliable", others U for "independent", and rivals L for "left" or "Lafodödel", a derisive term for supporters of Lafontaine. The file was extensively