Ekin Deligöz (born 21 April 1971) is a

Turkish-German Turks in Germany, also referred to as German Turks and Turkish Germans (german: Türken in Deutschland/Deutschtürken; tr, Almanya'da yaşayan Türkler/Almanya Türkleri), are ethnic Turkish people living in Germany. These terms are also used ...

politician of Alliance '90/The Greens who has been serving as

Parliamentary State Secretary A Parliamentary State Secretary (') is a member of the Bundestag given a portfolio to assist a Minister with running a government ministry. The position is roughly analogous to deputy ministers. In 2021, there are 36 parliamentary state secretari ...

in the

Federal Ministry of Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth The Federal Ministry of Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth (german: Bundesministerium für Familie, Senioren, Frauen und Jugend, ), abbreviated BMFSFJ, is a cabinet-level ministry of the Federal Republic of Germany. It is headquart ...

in the coalition government of Chancellor Olaf Scholz since 2021. She has been serving as a member of the

Bundestag The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet") is the German federal parliament. It is the only federal representative body that is directly elected by the German people. It is comparable to the United States House of Representatives or the House of Common ...

since 1998.

Early life

Of ethnic Turkish origin, Deligöz was born in

Tokat Tokat is the capital city of Tokat Province of Turkey in the mid-Black Sea region of Anatolia. It is located at the confluence of the Tokat River (Tokat Suyu) with the Yeşilırmak. In the 2018 census, the city of Tokat had a population of 155,00 ...

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...

; her family moved to West Germany in 1979. She attended school in

Weißenhorn Weißenhorn is a town in the district of Neu-Ulm in Bavaria. Weißenhorn is located about 22 km southeast of Ulm. History Archaeologic finds prove that the area of Weißenhorn was once a settlement of the Alamanni. Also Roman artifacts an ...

and afterwards partook in Administrative Studies in

Konstanz Konstanz (, , locally: ; also written as Constance in English) is a university city with approximately 83,000 inhabitants located at the western end of Lake Constance in the south of Germany. The city houses the University of Konstanz and was th ...

and

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

earning a degree in 1998. In February 1997, she acquired German citizenship.

Political career

Deligöz joined the Greens as a student member and belonged to the Bavaria chapter of the Greens'

youth organization The following is a list of youth organizations. A youth organization is a type of organization with a focus upon providing activities and socialization for minors. In this list, most organizations are international unless noted otherwise. ...

. She entered the

in 1998, and was re-elected in 2002, 2005 and 2009. Deligöz was re-elected for the fourth time into the federal parliament following the 2013 election. She is one of the eleven politicians of Turkish descent who won a seat in the federal parliament, including seven women. Between 2002 and 2005, Deligöz served as Chief Whip of the Green Party's

parliamentary group A parliamentary group, parliamentary party, or parliamentary caucus is a group consisting of some members of the same political party or electoral fusion of parties in a legislative assembly such as a parliament or a city council. Parliamenta ...

. From 2009 until 2013, she part of the group's leadership around co-chairs

Renate Künast Renate Elly Künast (born 15 December 1955) is a German politician of Alliance 90/The Greens party. She was the Minister of Consumer Protection, Food and Agriculture from 2001 to 2005 and subsequently served as chairwoman of her party's parliame ...

and

Jürgen Trittin Jürgen Trittin (born 25 July 1954) is a German Green politician. He was Federal Minister for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety in the government of Chancellor Gerhard Schröder from 1998 to 2005 in Germany. Early life a ...

. In this capacity, she was part of a series of round table talks in 2010 and 2011 to tackle a wave of child sexual abuse cases, including numerous allegations of abuse in the Roman Catholic Church; the talks were jointly chaired by ministers

Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger ( Leutheusser; born 26 July 1951) is a German politician of the liberal Free Democratic Party and a prominent advocate of human rights in Germany and Europe. Within the FDP, she is a leading figure of the soc ...

Annette Schavan Annette Schavan (; born 10 June 1955) is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). She was the Federal Minister of Education and Research in the government of Chancellor Angela Merkel from 2005 to 2013, when she resigned foll ...

, and

Kristina Schröder Kristina Schröder (''née'' Köhler, born 3 August 1977) is a German politician who served as the Federal Minister of Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth in the government of Chancellor Angela Merkel from 2009 to 2013. She served ...

. A member of the Budget Committee and as deputy chairwoman of the Audit Committee from 2013 until 2021, Deligöz served as her parliamentary group's

rapporteur A rapporteur is a person who is appointed by an organization to report on the proceedings of its meetings. The term is a French-derived word. For example, Dick Marty was appointed ''rapporteur'' by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Eur ...

on the annual budgets of the

Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs The Federal Ministry for Labour and Social Affairs (german: Bundesministerium für Arbeit und Soziales, ), abbreviated BMAS) is a federal ministry of the Federal Republic of Germany headed by the Federal Minister of Labour and Social Affairs a ...

(BMAS); the

Federal Ministry of Education and Research The Federal Ministry of Education and Research (german: link=no, Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung, ), abbreviated BMBF, is a cabinet-level ministry of Germany. It is headquartered in Bonn, with an office in Berlin. The Ministry provi ...

(BMBF); the Federal Ministry of Health (2013-2017); the

(BMFSFJ); the Office of the Federal President (2013–2021); the

Federal Foreign Office , logo = DEgov-AA-Logo en.svg , logo_width = 260 px , image = Auswaertiges Amt Berlin Eingang.jpg , picture_width = 300px , image_caption = Entrance to the Foreign Office building , headquarters = Werderscher Mark ...

(2018–2021); and the Federal Court of Auditors (2018–2021). In the negotiations to form a so-called

traffic light coalition In German politics, a traffic light coalition (german: Ampelkoalition) is a coalition government of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), the Free Democratic Party (FDP) and Alliance 90/The Greens. It is named after the parties' tra ...

of the

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties Fo ...

(SPD), the Green Party and the Free Democratic Party (FDP) following the 2021 German elections, Deligöz was part of her party's delegation in the working group on children, youth and families, co-chaired by Serpil Midyatli,

Katrin Göring-Eckardt Katrin Dagmar Göring-Eckardt (born Katrin Dagmar Eckardt; 3 May 1966) is a German politician of the German Green Party (officially known as Alliance 90/The Greens). Starting her political activity in the now-former German Democratic Republic (E ...

and Stephan Thomae.

Other activities

* ''

Gegen Vergessen – Für Demokratie Gegen Vergessen – Für Demokratie (Against Oblivion – For Democracy) is a German organization promoting diversity, tolerance and democratic participation, and opposing racism, prejudice and right-wing and left-wing extremism. It focuses in ...

'', Member of the Board * German Association for Public and Private Welfare * German Committee for

UNICEF UNICEF (), originally called the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund in full, now officially United Nations Children's Fund, is an agency of the United Nations responsible for providing humanitarian and developmental aid to ...

, Member of the Board

Controversy

When Deligöz voted in a favor of a symbolic resolution in 2016 that labels the 1915 killings of up to 1.5 million Armenians by Ottoman forces "

genocide Genocide is the intentional destruction of a people—usually defined as an ethnic, national, racial, or religious group—in whole or in part. Raphael Lemkin coined the term in 1944, combining the Greek word (, "race, people") with the Lat ...

", a description that Turkey strongly rejects, she became one of eleven MPs of Turkish origin who received increased police protection and further security measures for both their professional and private activities. Also, Germany's

warned her against travelling to Turkey because her safety could not be guaranteed after statements by Turkish President

Tayyip Erdogan Tayyip () is a Turkish given name for males. Tayyip may refer to: * Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (born 1954), Turkish politician, and Prime Minister of the Republic of Turkey from 2003 to 2014, and current President of Turkey since 2014 * Tayyip Talha ...

suggesting that German lawmakers of Turkish origin had "tainted blood".Death threats amid Germany-Turkey 'genocide' row
''

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...

'', June 6, 2016.

Personal life

Deligöz is married with two children.

References

External links

Personal siteHer works
at the

German National Library The German National Library (DNB; german: Deutsche Nationalbibliothek) is the central archival library and national bibliographic centre for the Federal Republic of Germany. It is one of the largest libraries in the world. Its task is to colle ...