Aydan Özoğuz | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Vice President of the Bundestag (on proposal of the SPD group) | |
| In office 26 October 2021 – 23 March 2025 | |
| President | Bärbel Bas |
| Preceded by | Dagmar Ziegler |
| Succeeded by | Josephine Ortleb |
| Minister of State for Migration, Refugees and Integration | |
| In office 17 December 2013 – 14 March 2018 | |
| Chancellor | Angela Merkel |
| Preceded by | Maria Böhmer |
| Succeeded by | Annette Widmann-Mauz |
| Deputy Leader of theSocial Democratic Party | |
| In office 6 December 2011 – 7 December 2017 | |
| Leader | Sigmar Gabriel Martin Schulz |
| Preceded by | Frank-Walter Steinmeier |
| Succeeded by | Malu Dreyer |
| Member of the Bundestag forHamburg-Wandsbek | |
| Assumed office 22 September 2013 | |
| Preceded by | Ingo Egloff |
| In office 27 September 2009 – 22 September 2013 | |
| Constituency | SPD Party List |
| Member of the Hamburg Parliament | |
| In office 23 September 2001 – 24 February 2008 | |
| Constituency | SPD Party List |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1967-05-31)31 May 1967 (age 58) |
| Political party | Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) |
| Spouse | Michael Neumann |
| Relations | Hakan Özoğuz andGökhan Özoğuz (Athena) |
| Children | 1 |
| Residence | Hamburg |
| Alma mater | University of Hamburg |
| Occupation | Politician |
| Website | oezoguz |
Aydan Özoğuz (Turkish:[ˈajdanˈœzoːuz];German:[ˈaɪdanˈøːzoːʔʊs];[1] born 31 May 1967) is a German politician of theSocial Democratic Party (SPD), who has been a member of theBundestag since 2009 and as itsVice-president of the German Bundestag from 2021 to 2025.
In addition to her parliamentary mandate, Özoğuz served as Commissioner for Immigration, Refugees and Integration at the rank ofMinister of State in thethird government ofChancellorAngela Merkel from 2013 until 2018. She served as her party's deputy chairperson of the party from 2011 until 2017.
Özoğuz was born on 31 May 1967 in Finkenau,Hamburg to Turkish parents,[2][3] who came to Germany in 1958. She grew up in Hamburg-Lokstedt. Her parents later went into their own food business. Özoğuz acquired German citizenship in 1989. She has two brothers, Yavuz and Gürhan.[4]
She finished her high school education at Corvey-Gymnasium in 1986 withAbitur. Following her studies in English as a major and Spanish and Human Resources Management as a minor, she completed a master's degree at theUniversity of Hamburg in 1994. During her university years, she was member of the Turkish Student Society in Hamburg, and served as its chairperson for two years.[4][5]
Since 1994, Özoğuz was research fellow in theKörber Foundation as project manager of "Coordination of New Projects" with focus on German-Turkish projects. From 1996 on, Özoğuz conducted projects in the field of Youth and Science Exchange as well as academic conferences on issues of international relations. With her election intoBundestag, she was exempted from her post at the Körber Foundation.
Between 2001 and 2008, Özoğuz was member of theState Parliament of Hamburg. She was appointed speaker of the SPD parliamentary group for migration policies and member of the committees of interior affairs, petitions and family.[4]
In 2004, Özoğuz joined the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD). She is the first ever Turkish descent woman in the SPD leadership as deputy chairperson.[4]
Özoğuz first entered the Bundestag at the2009 German federal election. She became a member of the Committee on Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth. She served also in the Committee of Inquiry for internet and the digital society. On 2 March 2010, the SPD parliamentary group appointed her commissioner of the group for integration.[4]
Özoğuz was re-elected in the2013 election, gaining the constituency ofHamburg-Wandsbek. She is one of the eleven politicians of Turkish descent who won a seat in the Bundestag, including seven women.[6]
Since 2018, Özoğuz has been a member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs and on theCommittee on Human Rights and Humanitarian Aid. She also serves as deputy chairwoman of the Subcommittee on Disarmament, Arms Control and Non-Proliferation.
Ahead of the2021 elections, Özoğuz was elected to lead the SPD campaign in Hamburg.[7] In the negotiations to form a so-calledtraffic light coalition of the SPD, theGreen Party and theFree Democrats (FDP) following the elections, she was part of her party's delegation in the working group on migration and integration, co-chaired byBoris Pistorius,Luise Amtsberg andJoachim Stamp.[8]
On 16 December 2013, Özoğuz was appointed Commissioner for Immigration, Refugees and Integration (German:Beauftragter der Bundesregierung für Migration, Flüchtlinge und Integration) in thethird Merkel cabinet, succeedingMaria Böhmer (CDU). She was the first ever woman with Turkish roots and Muslim member of theGerman Federal Government as Minister of State.[9][10][11]
In April 2015, Özoğuz accompanied GermanPresidentJoachim Gauck on a state visit toTurkey. In September 2015, amid theEuropean migrant crisis, she joined Vice ChancellorSigmar Gabriel on a trip to theZaatari refugee camp inJordan to learn more about the plight ofSyrians fleeing fromSyrian civil war which erupted in 2011.[12]
Together withDoris Ahnen,Niels Annen,Michael Groschek andManuela Schwesig, Özoğuz co-chaired the SPD's 2017 extraordinary convention inDortmund.[13]
In the negotiations to form afourth coalition government underChancellorAngela Merkel following the2017 federal elections, Özoğuz was part of the working group on migration policy, led byVolker Bouffier,Joachim Herrmann andRalf Stegner.
In May 2017, Özoğuz wrote a guest commentary in the newspaperTagesspiegel in which she stated that a specificGerman culture "aside from the language is simply not identifiable", as "already historically, rather regional cultures, immigration and diversity have shaped our history". She added that "Globalisation and pluralisation of lifeworlds leads to a further diversification ofdiversity."[14]
In August 2012, Özoğuz was one of 124 members of the Bundestag to sign a letter that was sent to the Russian ambassador to Germany,Vladimir Grinin, expressing concern over the trial against the three members ofPussy Riot. "Being held in detention for months and the threat of lengthy punishment are draconian and disproportionate," the lawmakers said in the letter. "In a secular and pluralist state, peaceful artistic acts – even if they can be seen as provocative – must not lead to the accusation of serious criminal acts that lead to lengthy prison terms."[15][16]
On 18 October 2024, Özoğuz shared a post on a social media platform published byJewish Voice for Peace that, per the media organisationBarron's, 'showed an image of a building on fire with the message "This is Zionism".'[17]
Özoğuz is married to Michael Neumann, Senator of Interior Affairs from SPD in the state government ofHamburg, and has a daughter, Hanna.[4][25][26]
Her brothers, Yavuz Özoğuz and Gürhan Özoğuz—both staunch supporters of theIslamic Republic of Iran andHezbollah—run the Islamist internet siteMuslim-Markt.[27] Özoğuz distanced herself from her brothers on their radical Islamist viewpoints in a newspaper interview in October 2011.[28]
Her twin cousinsHakan Özoğuz andGökhan Özoğuz are part of theska punk bandAthena fromIstanbul, Turkey.[26]
Media related toAydan Özoğuz at Wikimedia Commons| International | |
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