Politician with Turkish roots wins mayoral race in Germany

For the first time in Germany’s history, a politician with Turkish descent has won the mayor’s office in a major city. Belit Onay, a 38-year-old parliamentarian from the Green Party, claimed nearly 53 percent of the votes in a runoff ballot on Nov. 10.

Duvar English

Belit Onay, a German Green Party (Die Grünen) lawmaker with Turkish roots, has become the mayor of Hannover. Onay won 52.9 percent of the votes in a runoff ballot on Nov. 10, beating his rival Eckhard Scholz, an independent candidate supported by the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), who got to 47.1 percent.  

Local media reported that it is the first time a candidate born to immigrant parents has been elected mayor of one of the country's 16 state capitals. 

During his election campaign, Onay promised to transform Hannover into a climate-friendly city, struggle for affordable housing and improve social cohesion. 

Onay, a lawyer by profession, has served as an MP in the Lower Saxony Parliament since 2013, and before that had been a city councilor since 2011. 

The 38-year-old new mayor was born in Goslar, Lower Saxony, to Turkish parents who emigrated from Istanbul to Germany in the 1970s. 

Almost 3 million people of Turkish origin or descent live in Germany, many the second- and third-generation relatives of guest workers who were welcomed to fill a labor shortage of the country after World War II.