Serdar Yüksel (born April 27, 1973) is a German politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) and current

Member of the Bundestag Member of the German Parliament () is the official name given to a deputy in the Bundestag, German Bundestag. ''Member of Parliament'' refers to the elected members of the federal Bundestag Parliament at the Reichstag building in Berlin. In G ...

since the 2025 election. He has also been a member of the Landtag of North Rhine-Westphalia since the 2010 election.

Early life and education

Yüksel is the son of a worker of Kurdish descent who immigrated from

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

Essen Essen () is the central and, after Dortmund, second-largest city of the Ruhr, the largest urban area in Germany. Its population of makes it the fourth-largest city of North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne, Düsseldorf and Dortmund, as well as ...

in 1964. His father worked at

Krupp Friedrich Krupp AG Hoesch-Krupp (formerly Fried. Krupp AG and Friedrich Krupp GmbH), trade name, trading as Krupp, was the largest company in Europe at the beginning of the 20th century as well as Germany's premier weapons manufacturer dur ...

and was active in the IG Metall union. Despite a recommendation after primary school to attend ''Gymnasium'', Yüksel first attended ''

Hauptschule A ''Hauptschule'' (, "general school") is a secondary school in Germany, starting after four years of elementary schooling (''Grundschule''), which offers Lower Secondary Education (Level 2) according to the International Standard Classification ...

''. After completing his ''Hauptschule'' in Wattenscheid, he attended the '' Fachoberschule'' in

Bochum Bochum (, ; ; ; ) is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia. With a population of 372,348 (April 2023), it is the sixth-largest city (after Cologne, Düsseldorf, Dortmund, Essen and Duisburg) in North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous German federa ...

and completed an apprenticeship as a nurse in 1994. He worked as an intensive care nurse until 2010. He joined the Social Democratic Party at 15 years old, in 1989. He is a follower of

Alevism Alevism (; ; ) is a syncretic heterodox Islamic tradition, whose adherents follow the mystical Islamic teachings of Haji Bektash Veli, who taught the teachings of the Twelve Imams, whilst incorporating some traditions from shamanism. Differ ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yüksel, Serdar 1973 births Living people Members of the Bundestag for the Social Democratic Party of Germany Members of the Bundestag for North Rhine-Westphalia Members of the Bundestag 2025–2029 German Muslims German people of Kurdish descent Kurdish Alevis