Cemile Giousouf

Cemile Giousouf
Personal details
Born (1978-05-05) May 5, 1978
Leverkusen, Germany
Citizenship German, Greek
Political party Christian Democratic Union (CDU)
Alma mater University of Bonn
Occupation Politician
Religion Islam
Website cemile-giousouf.de

Cemile Giousouf (/ˈɛmɪlɛ ˈjuːsf/; born May 5, 1978 in Leverkusen, Germany) (Greek: Τζεμιλέ Γιουσούφ) (Turkish: Cemile Yusuf) is a German politician of Turkish ethnicity. She is the first ever Muslim member of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), elected into the Bundestag in 2013.

Early years

She was born on May 5, 1978 in Leverkusen to Gastarbeiter parents, who immigrated in the 1970s from Greece, where they lived as Turkish minority in Western Thrace. Soon after her birth, she was sent back to her uncle in Greece. At the age of two, Giousouf returned to her family in Germany. She has a brother. The members of the Muslim family spoke Turkish at home. In addition to her German citizenship, she holds also the Greek one.[1][2]

Following the completion of her high school education in Leverkusen with Abitur, she studied Political science, Social science and Islamic science at the University of Bonn.[2]

Career

In 2008, Giousouf was employed as consultant in the State Ministry of Generations, Family, Women and Integration of North Rhine-Westphalia. There, she was responsible for the scope "Women with Immigration History". From 2009 on, she served as consultant in the Department of Integration at the Ministry of Integration and Social Welfare of the same state.[2]

During her university years, she was engaged in the German-Turkish Forum, a subordinate organization of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU).[3] In 2008, she was elected vice chairperson of the organization's North Rhine-Westphalia branch, to which she belonged since 2004. She was also active in the CDU's several other local organizations as well as in the city administration of Aachen.[2]

Giousouf entered CDU's federal-level organization in 2011, where she served for "İntegration" matters. On June 30, 2012, she was elected to the executive board of CDU state organization in North Rhine-Westphalia.[2]

In 2013, the local organization of CDU in Hagen nominated her for the Bundestagswahl.[4] In the next two preliminary inner-party elections, she was able to make her way for the federal election as direct candidate in the Ennepe-Ruhr-Kreis District in September 2013. She is the first ever Muslim politician of the CDU elected into the Bundestag.[2][3][5][6]

References

  1. "Eine besondere Politikerin". Leverkusener Anzeiger (in German). 2013-08-09. Retrieved 2013-09-23.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Die Türöffnerin". taz (in German). 2013-04-14. Retrieved 2013-09-23.
  3. 1 2 "So etwas hat es in der CDU noch nie gegeben". Die Welt (in German). 2013-03-10. Retrieved 2013-09-23.
  4. "Eine Aachenerin will nach Berlin...". Aachener Zeitung (in German). 2013-01-23. Retrieved 2013-09-23.
  5. "Cemile Giousouf soll als erste Muslimin für die NRW-CDU in den Bundestag". WAZ (in German). 2013-03-16. Retrieved 2013-09-23.
  6. "Giousouf ist die erste muslimische CDU-Abgeordnete". Die Welt (in German). 2013-09-23. Retrieved 2013-09-23.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Tuesday, October 01, 2013. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.