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A Different Germany in Berlin:
The Daughter of a Turkish Family Leads
Last week we talked about the AfD winning a state election. Tonight Berlin showed the other side of the coin: according to first projections, Die Linke is the strongest party, and its lead candidate is Elif Eralp, daughter of a Turkish family and a migration lawyer.
Hamza Çakın · IR - Law / Consultant
Last week I wrote about the AfD victory in Saxony-Anhalt and tried to give a calm answer to whether migrants should panic. Tonight Berlin put the issue right in front of us. According to first projections, the Left Party (Die Linke) became the strongest party in Berlin’s history for the first time with about a quarter of the vote, clearly ahead of the CDU. But what I really want to talk about today is not the number, it is the face behind it.
First projection
- Die Linke: 26.0%
- CDU: 20.0%
- Greens: 15.5%
- AfD: 13.5%
- SPD: 12.0%
- BSW: 5.0%
Source: ZDF / Forschungsgruppe Wahlen, 6 pm projection. Subject to change with the final result.
The face behind the number
Die Linke’s lead candidate in Berlin is Elif Eralp. She was born in Munich in 1981; her parents, trade unionists, fled Turkey for Germany after the 1980 military coup. Eralp is a lawyer, and her field is exactly our world: migration and asylum law. She has been a member of the Berlin state parliament since 2021. So tonight, the daughter of a Turkish family, a child of migrants, stands at the head of the leading party in Germany’s capital.
Coming first is not governing alone
As I noted in the AfD article, being the strongest party does not mean governing alone; in Berlin a government is only formed through a coalition. Whether Eralp becomes Governing Mayor depends on coalition maths. But talks will most likely revolve around the strongest party. According to first projections, a coalition of Die Linke, the Greens and the SPD would hold around 76 of 130 seats.
What does this tell us?
Germany is more than one headline. The same country where the migration debate is hardening allows the daughter of a family from Turkey to run for the leadership of its capital. However loud the line “Germany is closing its doors to migrants” sounds, it skips over this reality.
Please don’t read this as party promotion; it is not about Die Linke or any other party. The point is this: if a country trusts a person with a migration background with the highest political responsibility, being a migrant there is not a “second-class” status. Tens of thousands of doctors, engineers, judges and MPs in Germany already have a migration background. If even the leadership of a capital can be linked to a migrant’s child, finding your place in that society through your profession is a very real prospect.
The lesson for anyone thinking of moving to Germany is not to back a party. It is this: your future is shaped by your own situation, not by headlines. The doors for skilled immigration are open. If you want to plan your route accordingly, we are happy to look at it together in a free consultation.
Sources: Tagesspiegel · Elif Eralp (Wikipedia) · DW Türkçe
Figures are based on the first election-night projections and may change with the official result. This article reflects the author’s personal assessment.