Filiz Polat (born 11 July 1978) is a German politician for the

Alliance 90/The Greens Alliance 90/The Greens (, ), often simply referred to as Greens (, ), is a Green (politics), green political party in Germany. It was formed in 1993 by the merger of the Greens (formed in West Germany in 1980) and Alliance 90 (formed in East Ger ...

Early years

Polat was born on 11 July 1978 in

Bramsche Bramsche is a town in the district of Osnabrück, Lower Saxony, Germany. It is about north of Osnabrück, at . Population is 30,952 (2018). Subdivisions In 1971/72 12 previously independent municipalities were included into the town. *Achmer *B ...

, a town in

Osnabrück Osnabrück (; ; archaic English: ''Osnaburg'') is a city in Lower Saxony in western Germany. It is situated on the river Hase in a valley penned between the Wiehen Hills and the northern tip of the Teutoburg Forest. With a population of 168 ...

District, Germany, to a

Turkish Turkish may refer to: * Something related to Turkey ** Turkish language *** Turkish alphabet ** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation *** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey *** Turkish communities in the former Ottoman Empire * The w ...

physician father and a German regional politician mother. She was schooled in Bramsche where she also attended high school. She finished her secondary education in

Münster Münster (; ) is an independent city#Germany, independent city (''Kreisfreie Stadt'') in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is in the northern part of the state and is considered to be the cultural centre of the Westphalia region. It is also a ...

with

Abitur ''Abitur'' (), often shortened colloquially to ''Abi'', is a qualification granted at the end of secondary education in Germany. It is conferred on students who pass their final exams at the end of ISCED 3, usually after twelve or thirteen year ...

and studied Economics at the

Goethe University Frankfurt Goethe University Frankfurt () is a public research university located in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. It was founded in 1914 as a citizens' university, which means it was founded and funded by the wealthy and active liberal citizenry of Frankfurt ...

graduating with a thesis on "''Employment Effects of Technological Change: A Micro-econometric Approach''" in 2002. That year, she administered also an intermediate exam in Political Science.

Political career

In 1996, Polat co-founded the Green Youth in her hometown Brasche and joined the party

. She was active as a member in the city council of Bramsche between 1996 and 2001. From 2005 to 2007, she served as the deputy chairperson of the regional organization in

Lower Saxony Lower Saxony is a States of Germany, German state (') in Northern Germany, northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ' of the Germany, Federal Re ...

Member of the State Parliament, 2004–2017

Polat ran in the 2003 regional election for Green Party; however, she missed the entry into the

Landtag of Lower Saxony The Lower Saxon Landtag () or the Parliament of Lower Saxony is the state diet of the German state of Lower Saxony. It convenes in Hanover and currently consists of 146 members, consisting of four parties. Since 2022 the majority is a coalition ...

by one place on the electoral list. When

Rebecca Harms Rebecca Harms (born 7 December 1956) is a German politician who served as Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from 2004 until 2019. She is a member of the Alliance '90/The Greens, part of the European Green Party. From 2010 until 2016 she ser ...

, the chairperson of the parliamentary group of the Green Party, moved into the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the two legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it ...

, Polat took her seat as replacement on 15 September 2004. She was re-elected in the 2008 election in Lower Saxony. Polat became the deputy chairperson of her party's parliamentary group in February 2013. From 2006 Polat also served on the city council of Bramsche again. Polat served as spokesperson of her party's parliamentary group for policies of migration, Europe and

cultural heritage management Cultural heritage management (CHM) is the vocation and practice of managing cultural heritage. Ann Marie Sullivan, Cultural Heritage & New Media: A Future for the Past, 15 J. MARSHALL REV. INTELL. PROP. L. 604 (2016) https://repository.jmls.edu/cg ...

. Furthermore, she was a member of the Committees on Petitions and European Affairs.

Member of the Bundestag, 2017–present

Polat has been a member of the German

Bundestag The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet (assembly), Diet") is the lower house of the Germany, German Federalism in Germany, federal parliament. It is the only constitutional body of the federation directly elected by the German people. The Bundestag wa ...

since the 2017 national elections. She has since been serving on the Committee on Internal Affairs. She also serves as her parliamentary group’s spokesperson for migration issues. In addition to her committee assignments, Polat has been serving as deputy chairwoman of the German-Pacific Parliamentary Friendship Group, which maintains interparliamentary relations with

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea, officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is an island country in Oceania that comprises the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and offshore islands in Melanesia, a region of the southwestern Pacific Ocean n ...

and

Timor-Leste Timor-Leste, also known as East Timor, officially the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, is a country in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the coastal exclave of Oecusse in the island's northwest, and ...

. Since 2022, she has also been a member of the German delegation to the

Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) is the parliamentary arm of the Council of Europe, a 46-nation international organisation dedicated to upholding human rights, democracy and the rule of law. The Assembly is made up of ...

(PACE). In the Assembly, she serves on the Committee on Equality and Non-Discrimination. In 2020, Polat co-founded a cross-party working group on diversity and antiracism. Ahead of the 2021 elections, Polat was elected to lead the Green Party's campaign in Lower Saxony, alongside

Sven-Christian Kindler Sven-Christian Kindler (born 14 February 1985) is a German politician of Alliance 90/The Greens who served as a member of the Bundestag from the state of Lower Saxony from 2009 to 2025. Early life and career After graduating from high school i ...

. In the negotiations to form a so-called

traffic light coalition In German politics, a traffic light coalition () is a coalition government of the Social Democratic Party (SPD), the Free Democratic Party (FDP) and Alliance 90/The Greens. It is named after the parties' traditional colours, respectively red, y ...

of the

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties Form ...

(SPD), the Green Party and the Free Democratic Party (FDP) following the elections, she was part of her party's delegation in the working group on migration and integration, co-chaired by

Boris Pistorius Boris Ludwig Pistorius (; born 14 March 1960) is a German lawyer and politician of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) who has been serving as Federal Minister of Defence in the governments of successive Chancellors Olaf Scholz and Fri ...

Luise Amtsberg Luise Amtsberg ( von Jackowski, born 17 October 1984) is a German politician of Alliance 90/The Greens who has been a member of the German Bundestag since the 2013 German federal election, federal election in 2013.

and

Joachim Stamp Joachim Stamp (born 21 June 1970) is a German politician of the Free Democratic Party (FDP) who served as a member of the State Parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia from the 2012 elections to 2022. He served as Deputy Minister President of No ...

Other activities

* Islamkolleg Deutschland (IKD), Member of the Board of Trustees (since 2021) *

Federal Agency for Civic Education The Federal Agency for Civic Education (FACE, (''bpb'')) is a German federal government agency responsible for promoting civic education. It is subordinated to the Federal Ministry of the Interior. Thomas Krüger has served as president of t ...

(BPB), Alternate Member of the Board of Trustees (2018–2021) * Niedersächsische Lotto-Sport-Stiftung, Member of the Board of Trustees (–2019)Neubesetzung des Stiftungsrats der Niedersächsischen Lotto-Sport-Stiftung
�Niedersächsische Lotto-Sport-Stiftung, press release of 2019. * Verband Entwicklungspolitik Niedersachsen (VEN), Member

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Polat, Filiz 1978 births Living people People from Bramsche Goethe University Frankfurt alumni Members of the Landtag of Lower Saxony Women members of state parliaments in Germany German politicians of Turkish descent 21st-century German women politicians Members of the Bundestag 2017–2021 Members of the Bundestag 2021–2025 Members of the Bundestag for Alliance 90/The Greens Politicians from Lower Saxony Members of the Bundestag 2025–2029 Members of the Bundestag for Lower Saxony Female members of the Bundestag