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'Yes we Cem'
By Adar Primor
Tags: Israel news

Can "the American dream" come true in Europe? And in - of all places - the cradle of Nazism and race theory? Yes, it can - at least according to supporters of Cem ?zdemir, the son of Turkish laborers who immigrated to Germany in the early 1960s, who has become a meteor in Germany's political firmament.

Ozdemir, 44, studied education and worked as a kindergarten teacher. He was born in Bad Urach in southern Germany and joined the Green Party at age 15. At 29, he was the first son of immigrants to be elected to the German Bundestag, and he later also served as a member of the European Parliament. In November 2008 he made history again when he was elected chairman of Germany's Green Party, becoming the first son of immigrants and the first Muslim to head a party not only in his country, but anywhere in Western Europe.

His supporters chose the slogan "Yes we Cem" for the campaign of the man whom the international media have already dubbed "Germany's Obama."
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"I have always objected to this comparison [to U.S. President Barack Obama]," a modest ?zdemir said last week in Israel, where he was a guest of the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya. "After all, even if my party joins the government, in German tradition the highest position the leader of the smaller coalition partner [see box] can aspire to is that of deputy chancellor."

Is Germany ready for a "German Obama" - a chancellor whose profile resembles that of the U.S. president?

?zdemir: "It will happen once we become a color-blind society, once the question of origin is no longer on the agenda. This will take time."

?zdemir's mother had serious reservations about her son's decision to join the Greens. She did not want him to draw attention to himself. "We have been here for almost 30 years and we don't need problems now," she said. And indeed, after he began to participate in parliamentary debates, astounded viewers phoned the television stations, complaining, "What is that contemptible Turk doing there? Can't Germans be found for this work anymore?"

After being elected chairman of the Greens, ?zdemir was forced to confront a scare campaign against him. Journalists demanded to know whether he would swear on the Koran upon entering the German cabinet. "I replied that I am a secular person and therefore would not swear on any holy book," he says. "This kind of stereotype chased me, as though I would some day call for the circumcision of all German men or distribute head-coverings to all German women."

Since ?zdemir joined the Bundestag, other politicians of Turkish origin have also been elected and are today represented in all of the parliamentary factions. A recent study found that most German Muslims (some 4.3 million in total, approximately 2.5 million of whom are of Turkish origin) have successfully integrated in society. Half are members of various German organizations, and only 4 percent have joined groups related to their countries of origin. The study also found that 70 percent of Germany's Muslim women do not wear a hijab.

?zdemir is surprised at the astonished reaction to the study: "It is a typical example of how Muslims are stereotyped. People immediately associate Islam with honor killings, forced marriages, discrimination against women, terror and so on." He says he finds such automatic assumptions and generalizations as despicable as the widespread feeling that he himself is exceptional.

"When I look at my surroundings, I find that in fact all my acquaintances are 'exceptional.' A woman of Turkish origin who attends university is 'exceptional.' A Muslim who loves his wife and a couple who have married for love are 'exceptional.' In fact, anyone who doesn't fit the stereotype is not 'a real Muslim.'"

He position on the debate raging in France on banning the burka is complex: "My outlook is liberal and I believe it is not the state's responsibility to decide how its citizens should dress. However, the burka, which isn't mentioned in the Koran, is a means used by men, aimed at preventing women from participating in society. And so, even if I cannot prevent women from wearing it privately, I will do all I can to prevent it from infiltrating schools or the public realm."

When asked about European concerns regarding the Continent's growing Muslim population, his reply is again both complex and nuanced. Speaking about the strengthening of Europe's extreme right - as reflected in the recent elections of the European Parliament - he carefully distinguishes between the extreme, traditional right wing, embodied by Jean-Marie Le Pen's National Front in France and the racist National Democratic Party (NPD) in Germany, on the one hand, and parties like Geert Wilders' Party for Freedom (PVV) in Holland, on the other.

"In the latter case - and a similar phenomenon exists in Denmark - these people belong to the liberal camp," he notes, "and see Islam as a threat to their achievements in the field of human rights, feminism, the recognition of homosexuals and so on."

Because of their many differences, ?zdemir believes it would be a mistake to use the same means to wage the struggle against these radicals. He refuses to classify as racist every European who fears for his way of life because of such elements, and believes such fears can best be combated by education and access to information.

"As politicians, it is our responsibility to explain that immigrants - like my parents' generation - did not come here by chance, but at the invitation of those countries that were in need of a workforce. Governments have done a poor job of explaining immigration. They did not see to it that what is known as 'the American dream' could be realized here, too, without turning into 'the European nightmare.'"

?zdemir also has demands of immigrants: They, too, have responsibilities and obligations. They, too, he believes, must adapt themselves to their new home, respect the constitutions of the countries they live in and accept equality between men and women, between heterosexuals and homosexuals, and so on.

Kebab or currywurst?

In a 1996 interview with Suddeutsche Zeitung, ?zdemir said he found it hard to define himself as a "German" and preferred to be identified as "a German citizen of Turkish origin." In this conversation, more than a decade later, he chooses to define himself as "a new German." The fact that he, too, accepts full responsibility for his country's dark past constitutes further evidence of his complete identification with Germany: "One cannot just take Goethe, Heine and Brecht from German history and ignore World War II. As a German citizen I have to take responsibility for learning the lessons [of that war], which is why 'no more Auschwitz' is an imperative for me."

When he visited the Dachau concentration camp as a schoolboy, ?zdemir was both confused and astounded by the message conveyed to the young visitors there - to the effect that it was their ancestors who had enabled the war. He says the German education system has to find a new formula for a reality in which immigrant children constitute an integral part of every student body. Nonetheless, he is impressed by the Germans' ability to confront their disgraceful past, which contrasts with the atmosphere in the Turkish schools he attended in the afternoons: "There, you learn only heroic stories about the Ottoman Empire and the nation's heros. I remember asking my teacher why the empire had shrunk so much if it constantly won wars, as we were taught. He replied with a threatening gesture, symbolizing slitting a throat."

At a soccer game, would you cheer for the Turkish team or the German team?

"Nowadays there are Turks on both teams, so I would win in either case," he says diplomatically.

The German or the Turkish national anthem?

"Neither. The German anthem is obsolete - it talks about the 'Fatherland,' but what about the mothers? The words of the Turkish anthem don't speak to me either."

Asked if he prefers doner kebab or currywurst, a popular German sausage, he quickly replies, "I am a vegetarian," noting, with a laugh: "Add to that the fact that I was a kindergarten teacher, a pacifist for many years and then joined the Greens - and imagine the shock I caused my parents."

The interview ends, we get up to leave and ?zdemir raises his hand, adorned with a rubber bracelet (a green one, of course) to turn off the air conditioner in the room the IDC allocated to us. "We have to save energy," he says in parting, and closes the door behind us.

A pro-Israel Muslim

Cem Ozdemir's support for Israel is considered unshakable. Since becoming chairman of Germany's Green Party, he has made three visits abroad: The first was to the United States, the second to Turkey and the third to Israel. He first visited here just after the first Gulf War - after one of his party colleagues had expressed sympathy for Saddam Hussein, "who launched missiles at Israel as punishment for its occupation policy." Back then Ozdemir was adamant about showing that there were other kinds of Greens, too.

However, after visiting the territories last week and seeing the separation fence, he has become even more convinced that, "Israel must stop the settlements, including the natural growth there, which is nothing but the continuation of those same settlements." He is encouraged by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's recent recognition of the idea of two states for Palestinians and Israelis, but has reservations about the conditions Netanyahu has stipulated. Says ?zdemir: "Israel has to understand that its friends are serious about their efforts to implement this vision."

When asked about his position, as a German Muslim, on the status of Jerusalem and the holy places, he replies: "What is certain is that I will not propose that the Ottoman Empire return here. The solution has to be a partition to which both Palestinians and Israelis agree," with no right of ownership or veto for the Muslim world.

No mere 'vanishing act'

"When the Green Party was founded at the end of the 1970s, they told us that 'the concept is interesting and you have good ideas, but it's a short-lived project that will vanish after one term,'" recalls Cem Ozdemir. "This 'vanishing act' has been continuing for three decades."

The Greens' great success in Germany is manifested by the fact that nearly every political party in the West has adopted its ecological ideas. "It's become trendy," ?zdemir smiles. "United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is now a 'Green,' talking about our 'Green New Deal,' as has Obama, while Chancellor [Angela] Merkel has had her picture taken with every iceberg."

?zdemir compares his legendary party predecessor Joschka Fischer to personalities like Konrad Adenauer, Willy Brandt and Helmut Kohl, who changed the face of Germany. The strengthening of the Greens has put Germany at the center of the international political agenda, he observes: "What is happening today is that other parties are adjusting themselves to the changing reality while we challenge them with new green ideas."

Precisely at this time of economic crisis, it is the Greens who offer the best solutions, ?zdemir argues. Referring to his own party's "Green New Deal," which will attempt to link economic policy-making to environmental issues, he says it's best to invest in green jobs for the long term, rather than in failed, fuel-guzzling industries.

Since the left's electoral defeat in 2005, the Greens have been the smallest opposition party in the Bundestag. However, many are encouraged by their achievements in both local elections and in the recent elections to the European Parliament, in which the party achieved its best results yet (12.5 percent) - returning to third place.

Will the Greens succeed in repeating this success in September's federal elections? Public opinion polls predict they will receive 12-13 percent, which commentators have attributed to the "Cem effect" and to the weakness of the Greens' natural partners - the Social Democrats.

"Our achievements," Ozdemir says enthusiastically, "are proof of the need for the party, even at a time when everyone is trying to emulate us."

The fact that the pacifist Greens were partners to a government that - for the first time since World War II - sent German soldiers to a war zone (Kosovo and Afghanistan), proves that they, too, have had to align their beliefs to a changing reality. ?zdemir confirms this, but hastens to stress that even with regard to this issue, the Greens have led the way: "When you listen to Obama's statements today, you will find that hiding behind them is the policy we have been preaching for years: no to fighting terror by using methods that create terrorists; yes to 'a strategy of smart targets.'"
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