Gökay Akbulut (born 16 November 1982) is a Turkish-born German politician and social scientist. She is currently serving in the

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 ...

(federal parliament) as a member of

The Left Party The Left may refer to: *Left-wing politics in general or to the following political parties: ** The Left (Bulgaria) or ''Levitsata!'' ** The Left (Czech Republic) or ''Levice'' ** ''Die Linke'', also known as The Left ** The Left (Italy) or ''La ...

from the German federal state of

Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg ( ; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a states of Germany, German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million i ...

Early life, education and profession

Akbulut was born in Pinarbaşi,

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

, into a family of

Kurdish Alevi Kurdish Alevism ( or ) refers to the unique rituals, sacred place practices, mythological discourses and socio-religious organizations among Kurds who adhere to Alevism. Kurdish Alevis consider their hereditary sacred lineages as semi-deific figu ...

background. After graduating from high school in Hamburg, Akbulut studied political sciences, sociology and public law at the

Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg University, officially the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg (; ), is a public research university in Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Founded in 1386 on instruction of Pope Urban VI, Heidelberg is Germany's oldest unive ...

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; ; ) is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, fifth-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, and with a population of about 163,000, of which roughly a quarter consists of studen ...

from October 2003 until September 2008. She graduated with a Magister. She completed an internship at the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

offices in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

in 2007 as well as an internship with the members of parliament Alexander Ullrich and

Heike Hänsel Heike Hänsel (born 1 January 1966) is a German politician, representing The Left. Born in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Heike Hänsel served as a member of the Bundestag from the state of Baden-Württemberg from 2005 to 2021. Life After gra ...

in Berlin. While still studying at the University, Akbulut worked as a waitress and in a call-center to finance her studies. Later she worked as an educator in the field of education with underprivileged youth and refugees. From 2012 - 2016 she was an independent lecturer at the Mannheimer Abendakademie und Volkshochschule GmbH in

Mannheim Mannheim (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: or ), officially the University City of Mannheim (), is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, second-largest city in Baden-Württemberg after Stuttgart, the States of Ger ...

. From 2016 -2017 she worked as a speaker for migration and education at the political foundation Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung in

, Stuttgart.

Political engagement

In her youth she attended many Kurdish manifestations and got to known the solidarity of the left-wing politicians. In 2006 she worked in an office of

. Since 2006 Akbulut is a member of The Left Party in Germany. Since 2012 she is also an active member of The Left Party Mannheim, where she served on the board of the local District association Kreisverband Mannheim. From May 2014 until June 2018, Akbulut represented the Left Party as a member of the municipal council of Mannheim (Mannheimer Gemeinderat) in the committees for education, integration and security. In 2016 she led the main election campaign as the appointed lead candidate during the local elections in the federal state of Baden-Wurttemberg. Akbulut is a member of the GEW Baden-Württemberg, the Rosa-Luxemburg Stiftung and Attac. Moreover she is committed to the work with and for refugees and serves as a member on the board of the refugees project "Mannheim sagt JA Flüchtlingshilfe" (Mannheim says yes), the network of Kurdish Academics and Cevi, the Kurdish Women's network. She was elected to the

German Parliament The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet") is the lower house of the German federal parliament. It is the only constitutional body of the federation directly elected by the German people. The Bundestag was established by Title III of the Basic Law for ...

in 2017.

Member of Parliament

Akbulut ran for the first time in the 2017 federal elections on behalf of her local district association (Landesverband Mannheim) and was elected to the third place of the Landesverband Baden-Württemberg's candidate list. At the German Parliament she represents her local electoral district Mannheim and is one out of six members of parliament from the federal state of

for The Left Party. Akbulut is the spokeswoman for migration and integration on behalf of the Left faction. She is a full member of the Committee for Legal Affairs and Consumer Protection and a deputy member of the Committee for Internal Affairs. Akbulut is also a full member of the European Law Subcommittee. She represents the Left faction in the German-Turkish as well as in the German-Greek Parliamentary Group of the German Parliament. Due to years of active work in Kurdish associations and her support for the Kurdish Movement, Akbulut is well connected all over Europe. In 2017 the press reported that Akbulut was under observation of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution because of her pro-Kurdish activism. She was accused of having been in contact with Kurdish organizations, who are allegedly associated with the

Kurdistan Workers' Party The Kurdistan Workers' Party, or the PKK, isDespite the PKK's 12th Congress announcing plans for total organisational dissolution, the PKK has not yet been dissolved de facto or de jure. a Kurds, Kurdish militant political organization and armed ...

(PKK). Akbulut is pressing charges against this observation, which supposedly started in 2007. She receives support for her legal resistance against this observation from her party The Left.

Political views

During debates on the possible ratification of the Global Compact for Migration of Germany Akbulut was the leading voice in the support of the Compact's ratification by Germany, opposing the position of faction chairwoman

Sahra Wagenknecht Sahra Wagenknecht (; 16 July 1969) is a German politician. She was a member of the Bundestag from 2009 to 2025, where she represented The Left until 2023. From 2015 to 2019, she served as that party's parliamentary co-chair. With a small team ...

. Akbulut expressed criticism against Wagenknecht's controversial statements on the topics of migration and her engagement for her private campaign

Aufstehen Aufstehen (German: ''Stand up'') is a left-wing collective movement founded by politician Sahra Wagenknecht in 2018. Its co-founders and participants included leading members of Germany's left-oriented parties as well as supporters from science a ...

. She is critical of the current political order in Germany and would like to see broader democratic possibilities. She'd prefer the economy would have to adapt more to the democracy instead that the democracy adapts to according to the economy. She is an opponent of the Turkish Government of

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (born 26 February 1954) is a Turkish politician who is the 12th and current president of Turkey since 2014. He previously served as the 25th prime minister of Turkey, prime minister from 2003 to 2014 as part of the Jus ...

References

External links

Gökay Akbulut
on Die Linke.de
Biographie at Deutschen Bundestag

Private Homepage
{{DEFAULTSORT:Akbulut, Gökay 1982 births Living people German people of Kurdish descent Kurdish Alevis German Muslims Turkish emigrants to Germany Naturalized citizens of Germany People from Pınarbaşı, Kayseri Members of the Bundestag for Baden-Württemberg Members of the Bundestag 2017–2021 Members of the Bundestag for Die Linke Members of the Bundestag 2021–2025 Female members of the Bundestag 21st-century German women politicians Members of the Bundestag 2025–2029