Gülşen Aktaş (born 1957) is a Turkish educator and social worker of

Kurdish Kurdish may refer to: *Kurds or Kurdish people *Kurdish language ** Northern Kurdish (Kurmanji) **Central Kurdish (Sorani) **Southern Kurdish ** Laki Kurdish *Kurdish alphabets *Kurdistan, the land of the Kurdish people which includes: **Southern ...

origin. Living in Schöneberg, Berlin, she serves the needs of migrant women in Germany. She was awarded with "Kosmopolita" in 2009 and "Order of Merit of Berlin" in 2011.

Early life

Gülşen Aktaş was born in

Tunceli Tunceli (, , ) is a municipality (belde) in Tunceli District and capital of Tunceli Province, Turkey. The city has a Zaza majority. It had a population of 35,161 in 2021. Name During Ottoman times, the settlement was called ''Kalan'' or ''Ma ...

Eastern Anatolia Region The Eastern Anatolia region () is a geographical region of Turkey. The most populous province in the region is Van Province. Other populous provinces are Malatya, Erzurum and Elazığ. It is bordered by the Black Sea Region and Georgia in th ...

of Turkey in 1957. She is of Kurdish Alevi origin. Her father died at an early age. Her mother moved without her children to Germany to work as a

Gastarbeiter ; ; both singular and plural) are foreign or migrant workers, particularly those who had moved to West Germany between 1955 and 1973, seeking work as part of a formal guest worker program (). As a result, guestworkers are generally considered t ...

. She worked for years in a factory to provide for her four daughters in Turkey. Gülşen Aktaş grew up with relatives in Turkey. She graduated from high school in

Şanlıurfa Urfa, officially called Şanlıurfa (), is a city in southeastern Turkey and the capital of Şanlıurfa Province. The city was known as Edessa from Hellenistic times and into Christian times. Urfa is situated on a plain about east of the Eup ...

, and became a primary school teacher in

Diyarbakır Province Diyarbakır Province (; ; ) is a province and metropolitan municipality in southeastern Turkey. Its area is 15,101 km2, and its population is 1,804,880 (2022). The provincial capital is the city of Diyarbakır. The Kurdish majority province ...

. At the age of 21, Gülşen Aktaş followed her mother to Germany. First in

Frankfurt am Main Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...

and later in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

, she completed a degree in political science.

Career

After graduating, she worked in one of the first

women's shelter A women's shelter, also known as a women's refuge and battered women's shelter, is a place of temporary protection and support for women escaping domestic violence and intimate partner violence of all forms. The term is also frequently used to ...

s in Berlin, and worked on various immigrant and women's projects. In 2004, she supervised and advised pupils and parents of various origins at the

Neumark The Neumark (), also known as the New March () or as East Brandenburg (), was a region of the Margraviate of Brandenburg and its successors located east of the Oder River in territory which became part of Poland in 1945 except some villages o ...

primary school in

Schöneberg Schöneberg () is a locality of Berlin, Germany. Until Berlin's 2001 administrative reform it was a separate borough including the locality of Friedenau. Together with the former borough of Tempelhof it is now part of the new borough of Te ...

, where she lives. She founded a women's network for Armenian, Turkish, Kurdish, Bosnian and Arab women, mothers and girls. Since 2007, she has been managing the "Huzur" (Turkish for peace, tranquility) a centre for senior citizens, which is frequented by first-generation migrants. The centre promotes intercultural dialogue between different ethnic groups of all ages. Additionally integration through education and leisure activities are organized. Other offerings are literacy classes, a choir,

Nordic walking Nordic walking is a Finland, Finnish-origin total-body version of walking that can be done both by non-athletes as a health-promoting physical activity and by athletes as a sport. The activity is performed with specially designed walking poles sim ...

in the Tiergarten and senior

karaoke is a type of interactive entertainment system usually offered in nightclubs and bars, where people sing along to pre-recorded accompaniment using a microphone. Its musical content is an instrumental rendition of a well-known popular song. I ...

. Excursions on the subject of the

History of Germany The concept of Germany as a distinct region in Central Europe can be traced to Julius Caesar, who referred to the unconquered area east of the Rhine as ''Germania'', thus distinguishing it from Gaul. The victory of the Cherusci, Germanic tribes ...

are popular.

Awards

For her projects related to migrants from diverse ethnic groups she was awarded the 2009 "Kosmopolita" Prize. On 30 September 2011, the

Governing Mayor of Berlin The governing mayor () of Berlin is the head of government, presiding over the Berlin Senate. As Berlin is an independent city as well as one of the constituent states of Germany (), the office is the equivalent of the ministers president of ...

Klaus Wowereit Klaus Wowereit (born 1 October 1953) is a German politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) and was the Governing Mayor of Berlin from 21 October 2001 to 11 December 2014. In 2001 state elections his party won a plurality of the votes, 29 ...

awarded her the Order of Merit of Berlin ().

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Aktas, Gulsen Living people 1957 births People from Tunceli Turkish expatriates in Germany German people of Kurdish descent Kurdish Alevis Turkish social workers Recipients of the Order of Merit of Berlin