6 hours agoGermany gets first with Turkish-born chairman
Periskopi(7 years ago)
(7 years ago)In Hanover, the capital of the German state province of Downfire, the Green Party came to power after 70 years of government by the Social Democratic Party (SPD), with Turkish politician Belit Onay (38) being elected chairman, the first of its kind in Germany. He reportedly defeated his main rival, Eckard Scholz (47.1 [...]
He reportedly beat his main rival, Eckard Scholz (47.1 per cent), who was a CDU candidate in the second round of elections Sunday with 52.9 per cent of the vote.
In the first interview after victory, Onay said about The ND wants to be a “developer bridge” contributing to overcoming divisions in society, announcing it would work on the concept of extracting vehicles fully from the centre of Hanover City.
Onay's parents came to Germany from Istanbul in the early 1970s as guest workers, and he refers to himself as a liberal “miesliman”.
He became involved in politics following attacks by right-wing extremists on several Turkish families in Zolingen in May 1993, in which five people were killed.
While still a student, he joined the SPD, later graduated from Hanover Law School, where he was active in the Christian Student Democratic Circle (RCDS) to join the Greens in 2008.
