Bijan Djir-Sarai | |
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| Member of theBundestag forNordrhein-Westfalen | |
| In office 24 October 2017 – November 2024 | |
| In office 27 October 2009 – 22 September 2013 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1976-06-06)6 June 1976 (age 49) |
| Citizenship | German |
| Political party | Free Democratic Party (FDP) |
| Alma mater | University of Cologne |
| Occupation | Politician |
Bijan Djir-Sarai (Persian:بیژن جیرسرایی; born 6 June 1976) is a German politician of theFree Democratic Party (FDP) who has served as a member of theBundestag from 2009 until 2013 and since 2017 until March 2025.[1]
Djir-Sarai was born on 6 June 1976 inTehran to a family ofIranian-Jewish background.[2] He was sent toGermany to live with an uncle at the age of 11 by hisIranian family. He does not identify as having any religion.[3]
Djir-Sarai joined the FDP in 1996.[4] He first became a member of the German Parliament in the2009 elections.[4] From 2009 and 2013, he served on the Committee on Foreign Relations. In the2013 elections, he lost his mandate.
Djir-Sarai was re-elected in the2017 elections and subsequently served on the Committee on Foreign Affairs again. He served as his parliamentary group's spokesperson on foreign policy. In addition to his committee assignments, he chaired the German-Iranian Parliamentary Friendship Group.[5]
In the negotiations to form a so-calledtraffic light coalition of theSocial Democratic Party (SPD), theGreen Party and the FDP following the2021 federal elections, Djir-Sarai was part of his party's delegation in the working group on foreign policy, defence, development cooperation and human rights, co-chaired byHeiko Maas,Omid Nouripour andAlexander Graf Lambsdorff.[6] In April 2022 he was elected as the General Secretary of the FDP.[4] He resigned from the position on 29 November 2024 amid controversy over the FDP's departure from the governing coalition.[7]
Djir-Sarai opposesBoycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel and favors the recognition ofHezbollah as a terrorist organization.[11]
In a joint letter initiated byNorbert Röttgen andAnthony Gonzalez ahead of the47th G7 summit in 2021, Djir-Sarai joined some 70 legislators from Europe and the US in calling upon their leaders to take a tough stance on China and to "avoid becoming dependent" on the country for technology includingartificial intelligence and5G.[12]
In 2011, the Internet platform VroniPlag[13] Wiki documented numerous inadequately sourced passages in the thesis. TheUniversity of Cologne withdrew his doctoral degree on 5 March 2012, since scientific citation obligations had not been sufficiently considered.[14]
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