Turk Aydan Özoğuz becomes German state minister for immigration

Deputy leader of Germany’s Social Democrats (SPD), Aydan Özoğuz, has been announced as the country’s new state minister for immigration, refugees and integration, thus becoming the first ever Turkish-origin minister to make it to the German federal Cabinet, Hurriyet Daily reports.

Özoğuz is a linguist and second-generation Turk in Germany, the daughter of a merchant family that imported nuts from Turkey in the 1960s. She received 89 percent of the vote at a SPD congress on Dec. 5 and was chosen as one of five vice presidents of the party. She also became the first Turk and the first foreigner to become a deputy leader of the SPD, the newspaper reports.