Sevim Dağdelen (born 4 September 1975) is a German

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

and a member of the Left Party ().

Early years

Born in

Duisburg Duisburg () is a city in the Ruhr metropolitan area of the western German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Lying on the confluence of the Rhine and the Ruhr rivers in the center of the Rhine-Ruhr Region, Duisburg is the 5th largest city in Nor ...

Kurdish Kurdish may refer to: *Kurds or Kurdish people *Kurdish languages *Kurdish alphabets *Kurdistan, the land of the Kurdish people which includes: **Southern Kurdistan **Eastern Kurdistan **Northern Kurdistan **Western Kurdistan See also * Kurd (dis ...

immigrants, Sevim Dağdelen finished high school in 1997, and studied law first at the

University of Marburg The Philipps University of Marburg (german: Philipps-Universität Marburg) was founded in 1527 by Philip I, Landgrave of Hesse, which makes it one of Germany's oldest universities and the oldest still operating Protestant university in the wor ...

and then at the

University of Adelaide The University of Adelaide (informally Adelaide University) is a public research university located in Adelaide, South Australia. Established in 1874, it is the third-oldest university in Australia. The university's main campus is located on N ...

, Australia and later at the

University of Cologne The University of Cologne (german: Universität zu Köln) is a university in Cologne, Germany. It was established in the year 1388 and is one of the most prestigious and research intensive universities in Germany. It was the sixth university to ...

. She did not complete her law studies and dropped out to pursue her political career. She worked as a journalist for the Turkish newspaper ''

Evrensel ''Evrensel'' (English: Universal) is a Turkish daily newspaper. History and profile ''Evrensel'' was founded on 7 June 1995. The issues captured and written are from a socialist perspective. The paper is different from other Turkish newspapers in ...

'' and German publications ''Tatsachen'' and ''Junge Stimme''. She was also active as a translator.

Career

After joining the Left Party, Dağdelen became a member of the regional-level party council of

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia (german: Nordrhein-Westfalen, ; li, Noordrien-Wesfale ; nds, Noordrhien-Westfalen; ksh, Noodrhing-Wäßßfaale), commonly shortened to NRW (), is a States of Germany, state (''Land'') in Western Germany. With more tha ...

and the federal student agency from 1996 to 1998. From 1993 to 2001, she was a member of the federal youth commission. Since 2005, she has been a member of the German

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 ...

. Dağdelen participated in the

State dinner A state banquet is an official banquet hosted by the head of state in his or her official residence for another head of state, or sometimes head of government, and other guests. Usually as part of a state visit or diplomatic conference, it is ...

with

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 ...

at the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 1800. ...

in June 2011. Dağdelen visited

Julian Assange Julian Paul Assange ( ; Hawkins; born 3 July 1971) is an Australian editor, publisher, and activist who founded WikiLeaks in 2006. WikiLeaks came to international attention in 2010 when it published a series of leaks provided by U.S. Army inte ...

at the Embassy of Ecuador in the United Kingdom in September 2012, passing on to him "solidarity ... from the left in Germany and the online community in Germany". Dağdelen was re-elected into the

for the fourth time following the 2017 election. She is currently presiding the German-Turkish Parliamentarian group in the Bundestag. She is known to be a supporter of the Kurdish People's Protections Units (YPG) as she showed the flag of the YPG in the

which in Germany is forbidden. She also opposes the German foreign policy regarding Turkey, who attacked the YPG in Afrin. Her appearance at a regional

IG Metall IG Metall (; IGM; German: ''Industriegewerkschaft Metall'', "Industrial Union of Metalworkers'") is the dominant metalworkers' union in Germany, making it the country's largest union as well as Europe's largest industrial union. Analysts of Ger ...

congress in 2018 lead to a controversy, as Turks made a social media campaign to end their membership in the workers union. She was re-elected at 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 ...

Political positions

In February 2022, Dağdelen said Russia has no interest in an

invasion of Ukraine The territory of present-day Ukraine has been Invasion, invaded or Military occupation, occupied a number of times throughout History of Ukraine, its history. List See also *List of invasions *List of wars involving Ukraine References

...

and was concerned with its legitimate security interests. She also called for a neutral status for Ukraine. On 18 February 2022, she appeared at a demonstration in Berlin with the slogan "Security for Russia is security for our country," where she accused the German media of spreading the "tall tales of the U.S. intelligence service". After the Russian invasion occurred, Dağdelen was among the co-signers of a statement attributing significant responsibility for the Russian invasion to the United States. In April 2022, she praised German protesters who opposed an increase in German military spending, and she described it as "madness" to deliver military weapons to Ukraine.

References

External links

*
Sevim Dağdelen Bundestag profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dagdelen, Sevim 1975 births Living people People from Duisburg German people of Kurdish descent German politicians of Turkish descent Members of the Bundestag for North Rhine-Westphalia Aufstehen Female members of the Bundestag 21st-century German women politicians University of Marburg alumni Adelaide Law School alumni University of Cologne alumni Kurdish politicians Members of the Bundestag 2021–2025 Members of the Bundestag 2017–2021 Members of the Bundestag 2013–2017 Members of the Bundestag 2009–2013 Members of the Bundestag 2005–2009 Members of the Bundestag for The Left 21st-century Kurdish women politicians