Aydan Ozoguz, the new German coalition partner Social Democrat Party’s (SPD) vice chairwoman, is going to be the first ever German minister of Turkish descent to be in German government.
As SPD leader Sigmar Gabriel has announced his party’s representatives who will be in ministerial offices in the coalition government, Ozoguz’s name was revealed as the new state minister responsible of Immigration, Refugees and Integration.
Gabriel said his party put intense effort for the dual nationality issue and they gained this right for young people who were born in Germany and refugees’ situation is added in the coalition protocol.
Sigmar Gabriel announced the other ministers of his party. SPD parliamentary group leader Frank Walter Steinmeier will head the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, SPD General Secretary Andrea Nahles will head the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, SPD treasurer Barbara Hendricks will be the Minister of Environment, Nature Conservation, and Nuclear Safety Construction, SPD Deputy Chairwoman Manuela Schwesig will lead the Ministry of Family, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth, Heiko Maas will be the Minister of Justice and Consumer Protection and Thomas Oppermann will be the new leader of the SPD parliamentary group in Bundestag.
Ozogus said on her new duty that it is a clear signal to immigrants and it is natural. The first German minister of Turkish descent told the newsmen that she had experienced being a foreigner as a Turkish person who was born in Hamburg and she may have sensitivities regarding her experience.
Ozogus said she may be successful to bring different groups and people from different backgrounds together if the politics are approached sensitively and she will put her weight in various issues such as improving the situations of everyone in society, improving education and the conditions for the aged, adding she will be a minister of everyone in Germany.
Aydan Ozoguz is a German politician of Turkish descent. She is a member of Bundestag from Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) since 2009, and was elected deputy chairperson of the party in 2011. She is married to Michael Neumann, Senator of Interior Affairs from SPD in the State government of Hamburg, and has a daughter.
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