The audacity of hope: chapter II

Another of Germany's promising politicians with Turkish roots, Cem Özdemir, has taken his cue from the "Yes We Can" campaign, launched by U.S. President-elect Barack Obama. Özdemir has promised his supporters leading up to elections for the co-chairmanship of the German Green Party this weekend that "Yes we Cem."

Carrying the election campaign to the virtual world, the Greens' favorite candidate was finally convinced to upload a Facebook profile to reach out to the young electorate. The Web site has become the second most visited profile after German Chancellor Angela Merkel's.

"Please support Özdemir as new chairman for the German Greens. He would be the first leader of a German party with non-German parents and he has the necessary experience on German and European levels," reads the post on "Yes we Cem," designed by friends and supporters.

Despite the emphasis on his non-German origins, Özdemir agrees with Obama's commitment to uniting factors in his homeland. "Obama is as white as he is black. We must leave the immigrant rhetoric behind," Özdemir told the Hürriyet Daily News on Friday."The influence of ethnic origin will be negated once the minorities' perception of the majority evolves." The election of Obama as the first black president in U.S. history has raised questions of whether a Turkish descendant could become prime minister in Germany or Austria, both densely populated by Turkish immigrants.

Özdemir's grand vision in German politics despite his young age, led to calls to attribute such a role to him. But critics argue a comparison between him and Obama would do nothing but harm Özdemir as a politician. "That would be a wrong claim," said Ozan Ceyhun, former member of the European Parliament. "No figure from a small party like the Greens has the chance to run for chancellor's office."

Close to party leadership
With the power of the publicity he has gained in challenging German politics, Özdemir has a high chance to share the Green Party leadership with female candidate Claudia Roth as a result of this weekend's party congress, say analysts.

His rise started when he joined the ranks of the Green Party as a teenager and then made his way to parliament in 1994 at the age of 28, becoming its first-ever member of Turkish descent.

Now, Özdemir, 43, is set to become Germany's first political party leader from a Turkish background. He may not, however, be able to become chancellor while in a party that enjoys only about 10 percent of the national vote. A party switch cannot be a remedy either, say observers, given the political system in Germany where the transfer to another party to advance a higher political career is not common practice.

"Özdemir is pretty popular among the party grassroots. For an ordinary German, he represents the positive face of Turks," said Ceyhun. "But he is treated as a German in politics."

That might be explained with Özdemir's preference to introduce himself as a German politician by repeatedly making an emphasis on his German identity. "There was never another politician in Germany other than Cem who started his speeches from the parliament floor with, ’We the Germans’ in the 1990s when the Green Party was in the coalition government," a witness to the event told the Daily News.

That was actually done to provoke deputies from the conservative Christian Democratic Union, or CDU, which at the time had launched a campaign against double citizenship.

While the attitude of the CDU angered leftist parties, including the Greens, Özdemir took the floor and dispersed the tension. He once delivered a speech by using his amusing "Schwaben" dialect, according to an anecdote.

"He speaks pretty good German; the Schwaben dialect of southern Germany is different from classical German and its use by someone who has Turkish parents is a plus," said Ceyhun.

Empathy the key word
"For me, empathy is one of the key elements that reveal the secret behind Özdemir's success in politics," said Rana Aydın, his assistant at the European Parliament. "As a politician, he listens to everyone and establishes dialogue with people from each and every segment."

Özdemir is a politician who has had the ability to convince others since his school years. He is known to have escaped failure in primary school after a conversation with his teacher.

Besides foreign policy, Özdemir's areas of interest include relations between Turkey and the European Union and migration, as well as Islam in Germany and Europe. Özdemir gives iftar, or fast-breaking dinners, during Ramadan with European parliamentarians to foster inter-faith and inter-cultural dialogue, said Aydın.

Özdemir lives in Kreuzberg situated in the western part of Berlin, an area densely populated by Turkish immigrants. He describes himself as a rocker and listens to Led Zeppelin, the famous rock band of the early 1970s. His fame comes also from the television talk-show programs he is often invited onto in Germany and from the newspaper pages he frequently shows up on.

"That might turn out to be a disadvantage for Cem," said Ceyhun. His frequent appearances in the magazine world has drawn criticism from certain groups recently, who accuse Özdemir of making a show without content, he noted.

Until a few years ago, he was under police protection due to threats from Turkish nationalists who accused him of treachery. "He was going everywhere with guards. One day I saw him in a club where he was dancing on stage surrounded by civilian guards. Together with Cem, they started to move with the song of Turkish pop star Tarkan," a Turkish living in Germany told the Daily News by phone. "That was funny."

Özdemir experienced hard times in politics when he, along with several other politicians, was associated with a minor "air miles scandal." He was accused of using bonus miles earned on government business for private trips.

Another setback came last month when he was defeated by a party vote in Baden-Württemberg that resulted in his failure to be included on the list of deputies from the Green Party. But he remains unrivaled in the weekend's election.

"Cem Özdemir and I already agreed upon how our future cooperation will work successfully," said Renate Künast, member of the Green Party and member of Bundestag. "He will leave his own marks. He has got what it takes."