Cem Özdemir

Cem Özdemir is the Co-Chairman of the German Green Party (Alliance ’90/The Greens). As party leader, he focuses on ecological and economic issues, including the development of a “Green New Deal,” as well as educational reforms and migration and integration issues.

From 2004 until 2009 Özdemir was a member of the European Parliament (The Greens / European Free Alliance), where he was Speaker on Foreign Affairs for his political group. In 2003, Cem Özdemir joined other senior policy-practitioners and academics as a “Transatlantic Fellow” at the German Marshall Fund in Washington, DC and Brussels. Özdemir was elected to the German parliament in 1994, becoming its first-ever member of Turkish descent. Özdemir served two consecutive legislative terms (1994-2002). During this time, he held the position of Speaker on Internal Affairs for the Green Parliamentary Group.

Özdemir is the author of two books on multicultural Germany. In 2008, he published a book for young people titled Turkey: Politics, Religion, Culture. He regularly writes commentaries and articles for German, Turkish, and international media.

He is an educator by profession and completed his studies in social pedagogy at the Evangelical Technical College (Evangelische Fachhochschule für Sozialwesen) in Reutlingen, Germany.