Aydan Özoğuz

Early years

Özoğuz was born on 31 May 1967 in Finkenau, Hamburg to Turkish parents, 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.

She finished her high school education in 1986 with Abitur. Following her studies in English Major and Spanish and Human Resources Management in minor, she completed a master's degree in 1994. During her university years, she was member of the Turkish Student Society in Hamburg, and served as its chairperson for two years.

Career

Since 1994, Özoğuz was research fellow in the Körber 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 into Bundestag, she was exempted from her post at the Körber Foundation.

Between 2001 and 2008, Özoğuz was member of the Hamburg Parliament. She was appointed speaker of the parliamentary group of SPD for migration policies and member of the committees of interior affairs, petitions and family.

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.

Member of the Bundestag, 2009–present

Özoğuz fist entered the Bundestag at the 2009 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.

Özoğuz was re-elected in the 2013 election, gaining the constituency of Hamburg Wandsbek. She is one of the eleven politicians of Turkish descent who won a seat in the Bundestag, including seven women.

Commissioner for Immigration, Refugees and Integration, 2013–present

On 16 December 2013, Özoğuz was appointed Commissioner for Immigration, Refugees and Integration (German: Beauftragter der Bundesregierung für Migration, Flüchtlinge und Integration) in the third Merkel cabinet, succeeding Maria Böhmer (CDU), who served between 2005 and 2013. She is so the first ever woman with Turkish roots and Muslim member of the German Federal Government as minister of state.

In April 2015, Özoğuz accompanied German President Joachim Gauck on a state visit to Turkey. In September 2015, amid the European migrant crisis, she joined Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel on a trip to the Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan to learn more about the plight of Syrians fleeing the violence in the ongoing Syrian civil war that erupted in 2011.

Human rights

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 of Pussy 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.”

Other activities

Personal life

She is married to Michael Neumann, Senator of Interior Affairs from SPD in the state government of Hamburg, and has a daughter, Hanna.

Her brothers Yavuz Özoğuz and Gürhan Özoğuz, both staunch and avowed admirers of the Islamic Republic of Iran and Hizballah, run the Islamist internet site Muslim-Markt. Aydan Özoğuz distanced herself from her brothers on their radical Islamist viewpoints in a newspaper interview in October 2011.

Her twin cousins Hakan Özoğuz and Gökhan Özoğuz are part of the ska punk band Athena from Istanbul, Turkey.