Green Party in Germany Elects Turk to be Leader

The Green Party, one of Germany's main political parties, elected the son of Turkish immigrants to its highest post, the first time any party here has chosen a leader with an ethnic Turkish background. The New York Times Reports:

The election of Cem Ozdemir, represents a major turning point not only for Germany. He was born in southern Germany of parents who came from Turkey to work as gastarbeiter, or guest workers, during the 1960s. Even though more than 2.6 million Turks live in Germany, accounting for 3 percent of the population, few have managed to make it to the higher ranks of many professions, including politics and the civil service.

Mr. Ozdemir, a social scientist who went to college in Reutlingen in the state of Baden-Württemberg, was elected as a Greens legislator to the lower house of the Bundestag, the German Parliament, in 1994. It was the first time anyone with a Turkish background had won such a mandate. He moved to the European Parliament in 2004. It is estimated that 660,000 Turks have taken up German citizenship since 1972, giving them a significant voice.

According to the main political parties, more than half a million Turks were eligible to vote in the 2005 election; 75 percent voted for the Social Democrats, 9.2 percent for the Greens and less than 5 percent for the Christian Democrats.