NORTH RHINE-WESTPHALIA, Germany - Serdar Yuksel, the prominent Kurdish member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), is running for the federal parliamentary elections after 14 years of serving in the North Rhine-Westphalia state parliament.
"It is important for Kurds... to have representatives in the German parliament, so that Kurdish demands, especially from Kurdistan and northern Iraq, can be heard and the bridge we have built over the past 15 years can now be represented in Berlin," he told Rudaw on Monday.
Germans will go to the polls on Sunday.
The parents of the 51-year-old Yuksel are from Kurdish areas in southeast Turkey. His family migrated to Germany in 1964, and he was born in Essen. He has been a member of the Social Democratic Party for 36 years. For this election, he campaigns tirelessly because he believes democracy is in danger.
He said his party "works to strengthen democracy," adding that "democracy in Germany has not been this endangered in the 75 years since the establishment of the Federal Republic of Germany."
He warned against a potential win by far-right parties and called on people to go to the polls.
"We have a far-right extremist and fascist party that wants to destroy democracy here. This must be taken very, very seriously. In other countries, people take to the streets and sacrifice their lives to live in a democratic society and vote. But we see that many people unfortunately stay at home. I call on all Kurds to exercise their rights, go vote, and not leave this democracy to the enemies of democracy," he said.
Yuksel highlighted three key goals for his electoral campaign: preserving the right to dual citizenship for asylum-seekers, keeping borders open for refugees fleeing violence and instability, and facilitating the legal migration process for skilled individuals.
Serdar has been a parliamentarian for North Rhine-Westphalia since 2010 and has won the trust of voters in Germany's largest state in four consecutive elections, representing the voices of immigrant communities, particularly the Kurdish diaspora.
