Serap Güler (born 7 July 1980) is a German politician of Turkish origin from the Christian Democratic Union. She has been a

Member of the German Bundestag Member of the German Parliament (german: Mitglied des Deutschen Bundestages) is the official name given to a deputy in the German Bundestag. ''Member of Parliament'' refers to the elected members of the federal Bundestag Parliament at the Reichs ...

since 2021, representing the Leverkusen – Cologne IV district.

Early life and career

Güler grew up as the child of Turkish guest workers in Germany. After training as a hotel manager, she graduated in

communication studies Communication studies or communication science is an academic discipline that deals with processes of human communication and behavior, patterns of communication in interpersonal relationships, social interactions and communication in differen ...

and

German studies German studies is the field of humanities that researches, documents and disseminates German language and literature in both its historic and present forms. Academic departments of German studies often include classes on German culture, German hi ...

from

University of Duisburg-Essen The University of Duisburg-Essen (german: link=no, Universität Duisburg-Essen) is a public research university in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. In the 2019 ''Times Higher Education World University Rankings'', the university was awarded ...

. Upon graduation, Güler worked as advisor to State Minister for Generations, Family, Women and Integration

Armin Laschet Armin Laschet (; born 18 February 1961) is a German politician who served as Minister President of North Rhine-Westphalia from 27 June 2017 to 26 October 2021. He served as Leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) from 22 January 2021 to 3 ...

and State Minister of Health .

Political career

Güler was elected to the

Landtag of North Rhine-Westphalia The Landtag of North Rhine-Westphalia is the state parliament (''Landtag'') of the German federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia, which convenes in the state capital of Düsseldorf, in the eastern part of the district of Hafen. The parliament i ...

in the 2012 North Rhine-Westphalia state election; at the time, she was her parliamentary group’s first member of Turkish origin. From 2012 until 2017, she served as her parliamentary group’s spokesperson on integration. In 2015, Güler was part of a CDU working group on a reform of Germany’s legislation on immigration, chaired by

. Together with

Thomas Strobl Thomas Strobl (born 17 March 1960) is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union of Germany, Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who has been serving as Deputy Minister-President of Baden-Württemberg since 2016. From 1998 until 2016 Str ...

Peter Hintze Peter Hintze (25 April 1950 – 26 November 2016) was a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who served as a member of the German Bundestag from 1990 until his death in 2016. From 2013 until 2016, Hintze was one of the six ...

Michael Kretschmer Michael Kretschmer (born 7 May 1975) is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who has been serving as Minister President of Saxony since 13 December 2017. Since 2022, he has been one of four deputy chairs of the CDU, under ...

David McAllister David James McAllister (born 12 January 1971) is a German politician who has been a member of the European Parliament since 2014. He is a member of the Christian Democratic Union, part of the European People's Party. He is the current Vice Pr ...

, and Annette Widmann-Mauz, she co-chaired the CDU’s 2015 national convention in

Karlsruhe Karlsruhe ( , , ; South Franconian: ''Kallsruh'') is the third-largest city of the German state (''Land'') of Baden-Württemberg after its capital of Stuttgart and Mannheim, and the 22nd-largest city in the nation, with 308,436 inhabitants. ...

. Following the 2017 state elections, Güler was appointed State Secretary of Integration at the State Ministry for Children, Families, Refugees, and Integration, in the

cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filing ...

Minister-President A minister-president or minister president is the head of government in a number of European countries or subnational governments with a parliamentary or semi-presidential system of government where they preside over the council of ministers. It ...

Armin Laschet. In the negotiations to form a fourth coalition government under

Chancellor Chancellor ( la, cancellarius) is a title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the or lattice work screens of a basilica or law cou ...

Angela Merkel Angela Dorothea Merkel (; ; born 17 July 1954) is a German former politician and scientist who served as Chancellor of Germany from 2005 to 2021. A member of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), she previously served as Leader of the Oppo ...

following the 2017 federal elections, she was part of the working group on migration policy, led by

Volker Bouffier Volker Bouffier (born 18 December 1951) is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who served as Minister President of the German state of Hessen from 31 August 2010 to 31 May 2022. From 1 November 2014 until 31 October 2015 ...

, Joachim Herrmann and

Ralf Stegner Ralf Stegner (born 2 October 1959) is a political scientist and a German politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) who has been serving as a member of the German Bundestag for the constituency of Pinneberg since the 2021 elections. Stegn ...

Member of the German Parliament, 2021–present

In the

2021 German federal election Federal elections in Germany, Federal elections were held in Germany on 26 September 2021 to elect the members of the List of members of the 20th Bundestag, 20th Bundestag. States of Germany, State elections in 2021 Berlin state election, Berli ...

, Güler contested Leverkusen – Cologne IV but came second to

Karl Lauterbach Karl Wilhelm Lauterbach (; born 21 February 1963) is a German scientist, physician, and politician of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) who has served as Federal Minister of Health since 8 December 2021. He is professor of health ec ...

. She was elected to 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 Commons ...

on the state list. She has since been serving on the Defence Committee. She also joined a study commission set up to investigate the entire period of German involvement in Afghanistan from 2001 to 2021 and to draw lessons for foreign and security policy in future. Since 2022, Güler has been serving as deputy chair – alongside

Mario Voigt Mario Voigt (born 8 February 1977) is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who has been serving as the leader of the CDU in the State Parliament of Thuringia since 2020. He has been a member of the State Parliament since 2 ...

– of a working group in charge of drafting the CDU’s new

party platform A political party platform (US English), party program, or party manifesto (preferential term in British & often Commonwealth English) is a formal set of principle goals which are supported by a political party or individual candidate, in order ...

, under the leadership of

Carsten Linnemann Carsten Christoffer Linnemann (born 10 August 1977) is a German economist and politician of the Christian Democratic Union (Germany), Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who has been a member of the German Bundestag since the 2009 German federal ele ...

. In the negotiations to form a

coalition government A coalition government is a form of government in which political parties cooperate to form a government. The usual reason for such an arrangement is that no single party has achieved an absolute majority after an election, an atypical outcome in ...

under the leadership of

Minister-President of North Rhine-Westphalia The Minister-President of North Rhine-Westphalia (german: Ministerpräsident des Landes Nordrhein-Westfalen), also referred to as Premier or Prime Minister, is the head of government of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia (''NRW''). The po ...

Hendrik Wüst Hendrik Josef Wüst (born 19 July 1975) is a German politician currently serving as Minister-President of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. He is a member of the Christian democratic and liberal-conservative CDU. In October 2021 he succeeded ...

following the 2022 state elections, Güler was part of her party’s delegation.

Other activities

* Islamkolleg Deutschland (IKD), Member of the Board of Trustees *

Institute for European Politics The Institute for European Politics (IEP; ''Institut für Europäische Politik'' in German) is a German foreign and European policy research centre based in Berlin. It is an independent non-governmental organization. History The IEP was founded ...

(IEP), Member of the Board of Trustees * Otto Benecke Foundation, Member of the Board of Trustees

Political positions

Güler is a part of the social wing of the CDU, and is a member of the

Christian Democratic Employees' Association The Christian Democratic Workers Association (''Christlich-Demokratische Arbeitnehmerschaft'') (CDA)Gerd-Rainer Horn, Emmanuel Gerard, ''Left Catholicism: Catholics and society in Western Europe at the point of liberation, 1943-1955'', Leuven Univer ...

. As a practising Muslim, Güler opposes abortion. She opposes children being forced to wear hijab. Güler is a critic of

President of Turkey The president of Turkey, officially the president of the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti Cumhurbaşkanı), is the head of state and head of government of Turkey. The president directs the executive branch of the government of Tu ...

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (born 26 February 1954) is a Turkish politician serving as the List of presidents of Turkey, 12th and current president of Turkey since 2014. He previously served as prime minister of Turkey from 2003 to 2014 and as Lis ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Güler, Serap 1980 births Living people Members of the Landtag of North Rhine-Westphalia 21st-century German women politicians German politicians of Turkish descent German Muslims Members of the Bundestag for North Rhine-Westphalia Members of the Bundestag 2021–2025 Female members of the Bundestag Members of the Bundestag for the Christian Democratic Union of Germany German anti-abortion activists University of Duisburg-Essen alumni