ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Seven Kurds from Germany, Denmark and Sweden are running for seats in the European Parliament. One of them, if elected, plans to create a group in the legislature to pave the way for discussions of the Kurdish issue.
European Parliament elections kicked off in the Netherlands on Thursday. The polls will continue in other European countries over the weekend, ending on Sunday.
Almost 360 million people are eligible to vote. The minimum voting age varies from one country to another. In most nations it is 18, but for the first time in Germany people aged 16 are allowed to vote.
Thousands of candidates are vying for 720 seats at the European legislature. Among them are seven Kurds from Germany, Denmark and Sweden.
Ozlem Demirel was born in Malatya, southeast Turkey in 1984. Five years later, she moved to Germany with her family. She studied political science and history at the University of Bonn.
In 2019, Demirel won a seat in the European Parliament on the German Left Party list and is now running for re-election. Germany has the most seats in the parliament, with 96. Demirel's party has five seats.
Demirel, who cannot speak Kurdish, has been active in politics for 10 years. From 2014 to 2018, she was the spokesperson for the Green Left in North Rhine-Westphalia. In 2017, she was her party's main candidate in the region. From 2013 to 2014, she was the federal president of the Federation of Democratic Workers' Associations.
She has called on the United States to stop its aid to the Israeli army.
Swedes will go to the polls on Sunday. Two Kurds are on the ballot.
Evin Incir is running for re-election on the ticket of the Swedish Social Democratic Party.
Incir was born in 1984 in Diyarbakir, southeast Turkey. She has lived in Sweden since she was six years old. In 2013 she graduated from the College of Law at the University of Uppsala.
Diana Ghafoor is also from the Swedish Social Democratic Party.
Ghafoor was born in 1997 to a Kurdish father from Kurdistan Region and a Kurdish mother from western Iran (Rojhelat).
She has been involved in politics since she was 11 years old. She says her parents' hardships because they are Kurds in Iraq and Iran led her to become involved in politics and to take the Kurdish issue to important political centers in Europe. At the age of 14, she became a member of the Swedish Social Democratic Party's youth group.
“If I am elected, I want to work on minority rights in Europe, and foreign relations. Those are the two areas I would like to work in,” Ghafoor, who studied international relations, told Rudaw.
“If I win the election, I will take the Kurdish issue to the European parliament and further familiarise Europeans with the issue. I hope I can establish a European-Kurdish community so that we can bring the Kurdish issue to the parliament through this community,” she said.
Several Kurdish candidates for the European Parliament are from Denmark. The country has 14 seats in the European Parliament and will elect its representatives on Sunday.
Hediye Temiz, 25, is running on the Danish Social Liberal Party list.
Temiz was born to a Kurdish family in Konya, Turkey. In 2018, she became a member of the Albertslund municipal council in Copenhagen. She is the chairman of the culture committee of the city council.
Ibrahim Benli is a Kurdish candidate for Danish Unity, a leftist party with one seat in the current European Parliament. Benli was born in Ankara in 1979. He has lived in Denmark since he was 21. He is married and the father of three children.
Another Kurdish candidate in Denmark is Taner Genc of the Socialist People's Party, which currently has three seats in the European Parliament. He was born in Ankara in 1985, is currently a member of the Ballerup Municipal Council.
In his election campaign, he has placed great emphasis on environmental issues.
Barikan Ismaeeli Solecki of the Moderates is also running. He has lived in Denmark since he was 11. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in sociology and business administration and has a Master in organization and strategy.
"This is the most important election in Europe. The most important election that will determine our future, so you must vote," he said in a video message.
Seyran Papo, a parliamentarian representing Schleswig-Holstein state and member of the Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU), told Rudaw on Thursday that if Kurds fail to turn out, it will boost the votes of populist parties.
“We should not say we should stay at home and let the politicians and populist parties grow larger… This is the first time that people aged 16 can cast their votes,” noted the Kurdish lawmaker.
There are an estimated more than one million Kurds living in Europe.
“These elections are very important. I know that many Kurdish youths will cast their votes and their votes will change many things during the election day,” Mohammad Eibo, a leadership member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), told Rudaw.
