Serpil Midyatli (born 8 August 1975) is a German politician who has been serving as deputy leader of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), and chairwoman of the SPD in Schleswig-Holstein since 2019. She has been the Leader of the Opposition in Schleswig-Holstein since July 2021.

Serpil Midyatli
Leader of the Opposition in the Landtag of Schleswig-Holstein
Assumed office
12 December 2023
Minister-PresidentDaniel Günther
Preceded byThomas Losse-Müller
Leader of the Social Democratic Party in the Landtag of Schleswig-Holstein
Assumed office
12 December 2023
Chief WhipKai Dolgner
DeputyMartin Habersaat
Birte Pauls
Preceded byThomas Losse-Müller
Member of the Landtag of Schleswig-Holstein
Assumed office
06 June 2017
ConstituencySocial Democratic List
Personal details
Born8 August 1975
Kiel, West Germany
Nationality Germany
Political partySocial Democratic Party

Political career

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Midyatli joined the Social Democratic Party of Germany in 2000. She was part of the local municipal council in Kiel-Gaarden.[1] Midyatli has been a member of the Landtag of Schleswig-Holstein since the 2009 election.[2]

Midyatli's political topics of interest include social integration, equality, family policy, and other social issues.[3] She is considered part of the left wing within the Social Democratic Party.[4]

In March 2019 Midyatli became leader of the SPD in Schleswig-Holstein, succeeding Ralf Stegner to be the first woman in the office.[3] On 6 December she was elected as one of five deputy federal chairpersons of her party. Prior to this, she supported Saskia Esken and Norbert Walter-Borjans in the leadership election.[5] Also succeeding Ralf Stegner, Midyatli became chairwoman of the party's parliamentary group in the Landtag of Schleswig-Holstein and thereby leader of the opposition in July 2021.[6]

In the negotiations to form a so-called traffic light coalition of the SPD, the Green Party and the FDP following the 2021 federal elections, Midyatli led her party's delegation in the working group on children, youth and families; her co-chairs from the other parties were Katrin Göring-Eckardt and Stephan Thomae.[7]

Midyatli was nominated by her party as delegate to the Federal Convention for the purpose of electing the President of Germany in 2022.[8]

In December 2023 Midyatli became Leader of the SPD in the Landtag of Schleswig-Holstein once again, after the incumbent Thomas Losse-Müller announced his resignation on 6 December 2023.[9]

Other activities

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  • Business Forum of the Social Democratic Party of Germany, Member of the Political Advisory Board (since 2020)[10]

Personal life

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Midyatli was born in 1975 in Kiel, where she also grew up. Her parents are Turkish immigrants.[4] She is a Muslim, married, and has two sons.[11]

After graduating from the Realschule in 1992, Midyatli originally planned to study law. Instead she came to lead a restaurant owned by her parents at the age of 18.[12] She later ran a concert hall, a catering company, and founded a cultural event company with her husband.[1]

References

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  1. ^ a b "Serpil Midyatli". Munzinger-Archiv (in German). Retrieved 11 December 2019.
  2. ^ Schröppel, Ann-Kathrin; Dörner, Jan (6 December 2019). "Neues Gesicht in der SPD-Spitze: Serpil Midyatli aus Schleswig-Holstein". Stuttgarter Zeitung (in German). Retrieved 11 December 2019.
  3. ^ a b Grusnik, Anna (30 March 2019). "Midyatli: "Kopp in den Sand ist nicht mein Stil"". Norddeutscher Rundfunk (in German). Retrieved 11 December 2019.
  4. ^ a b Wyssuwa, Matthias (8 December 2019). "Der überraschende Aufstieg der Serpil Midyatli". Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (in German). Retrieved 11 December 2019.
  5. ^ Magro, Jean-Marie (7 December 2019). "Serpil Midyatli, politischer Vulkan im SPD-Vorstand". Süddeutsche Zeitung (in German). Retrieved 11 December 2019.
  6. ^ NDR. "SPD im Landtag: Midyatli zur Fraktionsvorsitzenden gewählt". www.ndr.de (in German). Retrieved 25 August 2021.
  7. ^ Andreas Apetz and Thomas Kaspar (October 22, 2021), Ampel-Koalition: Alle Verantwortlichen, AGs und Themen im Überblick Frankfurter Rundschau.
  8. ^ Top 13: Wahl der Mitglieder für die 17. Bundesversammlung State Parliament of Schleswig-Holstein.
  9. ^ NDR. "Serpil Midyatli zur neuen SPD-Fraktionschefin gewählt". www.ndr.de (in German). Retrieved 12 December 2023.
  10. ^ Bernd Westphal und Anke Rehlinger koordinieren neu konstituierten Politischen Beirat des SPD-Wirtschaftsforums Archived 20 April 2022 at the Wayback Machine Business Forum of the Social Democratic Party of Germany, press release of 1 July 2020.
  11. ^ Hahn, Thomas (5 September 2018). "Serpil Midyatli: Nordisch by Nature". Süddeutsche Zeitung (in German). Retrieved 11 December 2019.
  12. ^ Bruhns, Anette (9 September 2018). "Stegners politische Ziehtochter übernimmt". Spiegel Online (in German). Retrieved 11 December 2019.
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