Biographical Note

 

Mr Cem Őzdemir

Cem Őzdemir is currently a Transatlantic Fellow at the German Marshall Fund in Washington, DC, where he is exploring how minority groups organise politically in the United States in comparison to Germany. He is also speaking and writing about Turkey and minority integration in Germany. Mr Őzdemir has been a member of the German Green Party since 1981. He was elected to the German Parliament in 1994, where he served until 2002. Upon his election, Mr Őzdemir became the Bundestag's first member of Turkish decent. In his first term he acted as speaker on migration issues for the Green caucus and, after his re-election in 1998, became speaker for internal affairs for the governing coalition between the Social Democrats and Greens. Additionally, he served as chairman of the Bundestag's German-Turkish parliamentary friendship group. He has been recognised for his efforts to promote multicultural understanding with the Theodor Heuss Medal, awarded for his work on prejudice reduction, and the Civis Media Prize, for his advocacy of integration in Germany. Mr Őzdemir was also named "Multicultural Man of the Year" by Radio Multikulti/SFB in Berlin.

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