Cem Özdemir, a German politician of Circassian descent, is set to become Baden-Würrtemberg’s next Minister-President after his party, the Greens narrowly won the state elections on 8 March.
The German Greens won the elections in the southwestern state Baden-Würrtemberg in a coalition with German Chancellor Fredrich Merz’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU). The state is the third-largest in Germany.
The coalition ran against the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), which only received around 10% of the vote.
Özdemir was born in Urbach, Germany in 1965. His parents came to Germany as gastarbeiters, or migrant workers, in the 1960s. His father, Abdullah Özdemir, was a Circassian from Pazar, Turkey, whose ancestors fled Circassia following the 19th century Circassian Genocide during Russia’s conquest of the Caucasus.
In 1995, Özdemir and Layla Onur became the first German MPs with Turkish roots to be elected to parliament. He remained in parliament until 2002, after which he served as a member of the EU Parliament between 2004–2009, where he organised what he described as a ‘very successful “Circassian Day” every year with the Association of Circassians in Europe’ to raise awareness among European politicians about Circassian history, displacement, and assimilation.
Özdemir has also served as Minister of Food Agriculture under Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s government between 2021–2025.
Özdemir also said that he kept his promise to his father to visit Adygea together, describing the trip as ‘unforgettable’. He attended a performance by Nalmes, Adygea’s official dance ensemble, and had an excursion to the mountains and forests of the republic.
At the time, Özdemir commented that ‘greed for money and mafia-like structures in today’s Russia unfortunately pose a massive threat to this unique beauty’.
Özdemir has also openly criticised Russia for hosting the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, which Circassians view as their last stronghold of resistance against the Russian Empire in the 19th century conquest of the North Caucasus.
At the time, Özdemir called on Moscow to use the Olympics as an opportunity to confront its past and draw attention to the fate of the Circassians.
Elizaveta Chukharova
