At least eleven Kurdish-German candidates are running in the election - five with the Left Party (Die Linke), three from the Green Party (Die Grunen), and one each from the Free Democratic Party (FDP,) Social Democratic Party (SPD), and Christian Democratic Union (CDU).
Mehmet Tanriverdi, co-leader of the Kurdish Community in Germany, forecast at least three or four Kurdish-German candidates will enter the parliament, called the Bundestag. "This is going to be doubling the number of lawmakers with Kurdish origins in the parliament," he told Rudaw's Hemen Abdullah on Tuesday, adding that there are two Kurds in the parliament now.
German parties are making greater efforts to reach out to Kurdish voters. The Green Party and the FDP both published election materials in the Kurdish language.
Angela Merkel's successor as head of the CDU, Armin Laschet, said he would meet with leaders of the Kurdish community if he is elected chancellor, according to Tanriverdi. Laschet reportedly made the comment to Ali Ertan Toprak, a leader of the Kurdish Community in Germany and electoral candidate on the CDU ticket.
"Laschet has promised to invite members of the leadership committee of the Kurdish Community in Germany, if the CDU gets the support it expects from the Kurdish voters," Tanriverdi said. This "indicates that German politicians have understood the impact of Kurdish-German voters."
There is a large Kurdish population in Germany, estimated at around one million. Most originate from Turkey, but Kurds have also migrated from Iraq, Syria, and Iran, fleeing war or persecution in their home country.
Tanriverdi said Kurdish voters would like to see Germany engage more actively with the Kurdistan Region.
"Germany helped the KRG [Kurdistan Regional Government] in its fight against ISIS [Islamic State], by providing MILAN weapons," he said, "but Berlin does not have an independent foreign policy toward Kurdistan."
Germany, as a member of the global coalition against ISIS, has armed and trained Kurdish and Iraqi forces, built a Peshmerga hospital in Erbil, and is working with the Peshmerga Ministry on ambitious reforms to professionalize the force.
Tanriverdi noted that Merkel did not visit the Kurdistan Region during her 16 years in office, unlike French leaders who have visited a number of times.
Fabian Schutz, CDU's candidate to the German parliament in Bochum, said Germany needs to step up on the international stage. "We have to learn a lesson from what happened in Afghanistan," he told Rudaw's Alla Shahly on Tuesday. “Foreign countries expect Germany to play a more active role internationally. We should take on this responsibility."
