Aygül Özkan (born 27 August 1971, in

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

) is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who has been serving as managing director of the German Property Federation (ZIA) since 2020. Özkan has been a member of the CDU since 2004. She served as Minister of Social Affairs, Women, Families, Health and Integration in the

state State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

Lower Saxony Lower Saxony is a States of Germany, German state (') in Northern Germany, northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ' of the Germany, Federal Re ...

, in the Second Cabinet Wulff and the Cabinet McAllister between 2010 and 2013. She was the first ever German politician of Turkish descent and a

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

serving as minister.

Early life and education

Özkan's father migrated from

Ankara Ankara is the capital city of Turkey and List of national capitals by area, the largest capital by area in the world. Located in the Central Anatolia Region, central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5,290,822 in its urban center ( ...

(Turkey) to Hamburg (West Germany) in the 1960s, where he first worked for

Deutsche Bundespost The (, ) was a German state-run postal service and telecommunications business founded in 1947. It was initially the second largest federal employer during its time. After staff reductions in the 1980s, the staff was reduced to roughly 543,20 ...

and subsequently set up an independent business as a

tailor A tailor is a person who makes or alters clothing, particularly in men's clothing. The Oxford English Dictionary dates the term to the thirteenth century. History Although clothing construction goes back to prehistory, there is evidence of ...

in Hamburg. Özkan became a German citizen when she was 18 years old. She went on to study law at the

University of Hamburg The University of Hamburg (, also referred to as UHH) is a public university, public research university in Hamburg, Germany. It was founded on 28 March 1919 by combining the previous General Lecture System ('':de:Allgemeines Vorlesungswesen, ...

and became an attorney-at-law in 1998.

Career

Özkan entered politics when she joined the CDU in 2004, and was appointed State Minister of Social Affairs, Women, Family, Health, and Integration in the state of

. She served in the cabinets of successive Ministers-President

Christian Wulff Christian Wilhelm Walter Wulff (; born 1959) is a retired German politician and lawyer who served as President of Germany from 2010 to 2012. A member of the Christian Democratic Union of Germany, Christian Democratic Union (CDU), he previously ...

and

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 (CDU), part of the European People's Party. He is the current vi ...

from 27 April 2010 to 19 February 2013. She participated In the negotiations to form a

coalition government A coalition government, or coalition cabinet, is a government by political parties that enter into a power-sharing arrangement of the executive. Coalition governments usually occur when no single party has achieved an absolute majority after an ...

of the Christian Democrats together with the Bavarian (CSU) and the Free Democratic Party (FDP) following the 2013 national elections. She was part of the CDU/CSU delegation in the working group on integration and migration, led by

Maria Böhmer Maria Böhmer (born 23 April 1950) is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). Under the leadership of successive ministers Frank-Walter Steinmeier (2013-2017) and Sigmar Gabriel (2017), she served as Minister of State in t ...

and

Aydan Özoğuz Aydan Özoğuz (; ; born 31 May 1967) is a German politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPD), who has been a member of the Bundestag since 2009 and as its Vice-president of the German Bundestag from 2021 to 2025. In addition to her parlia ...

. She caused some controversies in the German political establishment as she advocated a strictly secular policy and opposed the Christian cross as well as the Muslim headscarf in schools. In a press release, Özkan announced her retirement from politics from 22 July 2014. She took a post as general manager of the DB Credit Service GmbH in Berlin, a subsidiary of

Deutsche Bank Deutsche Bank AG (, ) is a Germany, German multinational Investment banking, investment bank and financial services company headquartered in Frankfurt, Germany, and dual-listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange. ...

, on 1 August 2014. She worked for

Deutsche Telekom Deutsche Telekom AG (, ; often just Telekom, DTAG or DT; stylised as ·T·) is a partially state-owned German telecommunications company headquartered in Bonn and the largest telecommunications provider in Europe by revenue. It was formed in 199 ...

and the Dutch

TNT Express TNT Express was an international courier delivery services company with its headquarters in Hoofddorp, Netherlands. It was acquired by FedEx. History The namesake Thomas Nationwide Transport grandfather company was originally started in 1946 w ...

before she entered politics. In 2018 she was announced as the CDU candidate for the mayorships elections in 2020. But she declined to run in the elections due to a serious illness.

Other activities

German Cancer Research Center The German Cancer Research Center (known as the Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum or simply DKFZ in German language, German) is a national cancer research center based in Heidelberg, Germany. It is a member of the Helmholtz Association of German ...

(DKFZ), Member of the Advisory Council * Haus Rissen, member of the board of trustees *

Konrad Adenauer Foundation The Konrad Adenauer Foundation ('' German: Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung e.V.; Abbreviation: KAS'') is a German political party foundation associated with but independent of the centre-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU). The foundation's head ...

(KAS), Member of the Board of Trustees

Personal life

Özkan is married to a gynaecologist.Markus Arndt (19 August 2018)
Große Sorge um Aygül Özkan: Krankheits-Drama um CDU-Kandidatin
''

Bild ''Bild'' (, ) or ''Bild-Zeitung'' (, ) is a German tabloid newspaper published by Axel Springer SE. The paper is published from Monday to Saturday; on Sundays, its sister paper '' Bild am Sonntag'' () is published instead, which has a differen ...

''. She has a son.

References

External links

Official website

Niedersächsisches Ministerium für Soziales, Frauen, Familie, Gesundheit und Integration / Biographie der Ministerin / Fotos
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ozkan, Aygul 1971 births Living people Politicians from Hamburg University of Hamburg alumni Ministers of the Lower Saxony State Government Christian Democratic Union of Germany politicians Jurists from Hamburg German politicians of Turkish descent 21st-century German businesswomen 21st-century German businesspeople Women ministers of state governments in Germany 21st-century German women politicians