Aydan Özoğuz

Aydan Özoğuz
Personal details
Born 31 May 1967
Hamburg, Germany
Citizenship German
Nationality Turkish
Political party Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD)
Spouse(s) Michael Neumann
Relations Hakan Özoğuz and Gökhan Özoğuz (Athena)
Children Hanna (daughter)
Residence Hamburg
Alma mater University of Hamburg
Occupation Politician
Religion Islam
Website oezoguz.de

Aydan Özoğuz (born 31 May 1967) is a German politician of Turkish descent. She is a member of Bundestag from Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) since 2009, and was elected deputy chairperson of the party in 2011. She was named Commissioner for Immigration, Refugees and Integration in 2013.

Early years

She was born on 31 May 1967 in Finkenau, Hamburg to Turkish parents, who came in 1958 to Germany as Gastarbeiter. She grew up in Hamburg-Lokstedt. Her parents went later into their own food business. Aydan Özoğuz acquired the German citizenship in 1989. She has two brothers, Yavuz and Gürhan.[1]

She finished her high school education in 1986 with Abitur. Following her studies in English Major and Spanish and Human Resources Management in minor, she completed a master's degree in 1994. During her university years, she was member of the Turkish Student Society in Hamburg, and served as its chairperson for two years.[1]

Career

Since 1994, Özoğuz was research fellow in the Körber Foundation as project manager of "Coordination of New Projects" with focus on German-Turkish projects. From 1996 on, Özoğuz conducted projects in the field of Youth and Science Exchange as well as academic conferences on issues of international relations. With her election into Bundestag, she was exempted from her post at the Körber Foundation.

Between 2001 and 2008, Özoğuz was member of the Hamburg Parliament. She was appointed speaker of the parliamentary group of SPD for migration politics and member of the committees of interior affairs, petitions and family.[1]

In 2004, Özoğuz joined the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD). She is the first ever Turkish descent woman in the SPD leadership as deputy chairperson.[1]

Member of the Bundestag, 2009-present

Özoğuz entered the Bundestag at the 2009 German federal election. She became a member of the committee for family, seniors, women and youth. She served also in the committee of inquiry for internet and digital society. On 2 March 2010, the parliamentary group of SPD appointed her commissioner of the group for integration.[1]

Özoğuz is on the board of trustees of the "Muslim Academy in Germany" (German: Muslimische Akademie in Deutschland), a foundation in Berlin. Since 2010, she is also deputy member of the board of the trustees of the German Historical Museum and the Foundation for History of Federal Republic of Germany (German: Stiftung Haus der Geschichte der Bundesrepublik Deutschland).[1]

Özoğuz was re-elected in the 2013 election, gaining the constituency of Hamburg Wandsbek. She is one of the eleven politicians of Turkish descent who won a seat in the Bundestag, including seven women.[2]

On 16 December 2013, she was appointed Commissioner for Immigration, Refugees and Integration (German: Beauftragter der Bundesregierung für Migration, Flüchtlinge und Integration) in the Third Merkel cabinet succeeding Maria Böhmer (CDU), who served between 2005 and 2013. Özoğuz is so the first ever woman with Turkish roots and Muslim member of the German Federal Government as minister of state.[3][4][5]

Other activities

Personal life

She is married to Michael Neumann, Senator of Interior Affairs from SPD in the state government of Hamburg, and has a daughter, Hanna.[1][6][7]

Her brothers Yavuz Özoğuz and Gürhan Özoğuz, both staunch and avowed admirers of the Islamic Republic of Iran and Hizballah, run the Islamist internet site Muslim-Markt.[8] Aydan Özoğuz distanced herself from her brothers on their radical Islamist viewpoints in a newspaper interview in October 2011.[9]

Her twin cousins Hakan Özoğuz and Gökhan Özoğuz are part of the ska punk band Athena from Istanbul, Turkey.[7]

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Aydan Özoğuz.

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 "Aydan Özoğuz, SPD" (in German). Deutscher Bundestag. Retrieved 23 September 2013.
  2. ↑ "Almanya'da federal meclise girmeyi başaran Türk kökenli vekiller". Hürriyet (in Turkish). 23 September 2013. Retrieved 23 September 2013.
  3. ↑ "Türkische Gemeinde begrüßt Özoğuz' Ernennung". Zeit Online (in German). 16 December 2013. Retrieved 17 December 2013.
  4. ↑ "Erste Frau mit türkischen Wurzeln am Kabinettstisch". Die Welt (in German). 16 December 2013. Retrieved 17 December 2013.
  5. ↑ "Aydan Özoguz wird Integrationsministerin". SWR International (in German). 16 December 2013. Retrieved 17 December 2013.
  6. ↑ "Neumann wegen Verwandtschaft in der Kritik". Die Welt (in German). Retrieved 23 September 2013.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Veit, Sven-Michael and Eva Weikert (8 January 2005). "Freiheit. Feigheit. Multikulti". taz (in German). Retrieved 23 September 2013.
  8. ↑ "Aydan Özoğuz’a ‘kardeş’ suçlaması". Sabah (in Turkish). 30 October 2011. Retrieved 15 December 2013.
  9. ↑ "SPD-Politikerin Özoguz distanziert sich von radikal-islamischen Brüdern". Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung (in German). 30 October 2011. Retrieved 17 December 2013.