Nalin Pekgul (née Baksi, born 30 April 1967) is a Swedish

Social Democratic Social democracy is a political, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocating economic and social interventions to promote soci ...

politician, nurse and former parliamentarian. She was the first Muslim woman to sit in the Swedish Parliament.

Life

Pekgul was born in

Batman Batman is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, and debuted in Detective Comics 27, the 27th issue of the comic book ''Detective Comics'' on ...

, Turkey, but migrated to Sweden with her family in 1980 when she was 13. She is the sister of the

Kurdish nationalist Kurdish nationalism (, ) is a nationalist political movement which asserts that Kurds are a nation and espouses the creation of an independent Kurdistan from Iran, Iraq, Syria and Turkey. Early Kurdish nationalism had its roots in the Ottoman ...

and anti-racism activist

Kurdo Baksi Necip ''Kurdo'' Sirka Baksi, (born 5 June 1965) is a Swedish social commentator and author. Baksi was born in Batman, Turkey, of Kurdish descent. He is the brother of Nalin Pekgul and the nephew of Mahmud Baksi. He came to Sweden in 1980 along ...

and niece of the author Mahmut Baksi. Pekgul trained as a nurse, a profession in which she worked both before and after her election as a politician.

Political activities

In 1982, Pekgul joined the

Swedish Social Democratic Youth League The Swedish Social Democratic Youth League ( sv, Sveriges Socialdemokratiska Ungdomsförbund ; SSU) is a branch of the Swedish Social Democratic Party and the Swedish Trade Union Confederation in Sweden. The president has been Lisa Nåbo, since ...

in Tensta, a suburb of Stockholm. Between 1994 and 2002, Pekgul was a member of the

Swedish parliament The Riksdag (, ; also sv, riksdagen or ''Sveriges riksdag'' ) is the legislature and the supreme decision-making body of Sweden. Since 1971, the Riksdag has been a unicameral legislature with 349 members (), elected proportionally and s ...

. She was chairwoman of

Social Democratic Women in Sweden The Social Democratic Women in Sweden ( sv, Sveriges socialdemokratiska kvinnoförbund ), or "S-women" ( ), is the women's wing of the Swedish Social Democratic Party. It was established in 1920 by representatives from 120 local Social Democratic ...

( sv, Sveriges socialdemokratiska kvinnoförbund) 2003–2011.

Aftonbladet ''Aftonbladet'' (, lit. "The evening paper") is a Swedish daily newspaper published in Stockholm, Sweden. It is one of the largest daily newspapers in the Nordic countries. History and profile The newspaper was founded by Lars Johan H ...

noted that Pekgul was the first Muslim woman to be elected to the Swedish parliament. Pekgul has supported a progressive form of Islam and ideas of

Islamic feminism Islamic feminism is a form of feminism concerned with the role of women in Islam. It aims for the full equality of all Muslims, regardless of gender, in public and private life. Islamic feminists advocate women's rights, gender equality, and soci ...

. She supports the

Swedish monarchy The monarchy of Sweden is the monarchical head of state of Sweden,See the Instrument of Government, Chapter 1, Article 5. which is a constitutional and hereditary monarchy with a parliamentary system.Parliamentary system: see the Instrument o ...

and has argued that the Social Democrats should remove calls for a republic from their party programme. After an absence from Swedish politics of seven years, Pekgul announced in 2018 that she would make a political comeback to campaign against religious extremism and honour culture. She campaigned in Gothenburg with

Ann-Sofie Hermansson Britt ''Ann-Sofie'' Hermansson (born 2 October 1964) is a Swedish politician of the Social Democrats. She was chairman (Mayor) of the Gothenburg Municipality executive board from 18 January 2016 to 22 november 2018. Career Early career Born ...

, chairman of the municipal council. She told Aftonbladet that it is the fight against the

Sweden Democrats The Sweden Democrats ( sv , Sverigedemokraterna ; SD ) is a nationalist and right-wing populist political party in Sweden. As of 2022, it is the largest member of Sweden's right-wing governing bloc to which it provides confidence and supply, a ...

that engages her. The Social Democrats have been criticised for not raising issues of honour violence for fear of losing votes.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pekgul, Nalin 1967 births Living people People from Batman, Turkey Swedish politicians of Kurdish descent 21st-century Swedish women politicians Swedish people of Kurdish descent Swedish Muslims Members of the Riksdag from the Social Democrats Kurdish women in politics 21st-century Kurdish women politicians Kurdish people