Zuhal Demir named new secretary of state for equal opportunities

Zuhal Demir is the new federal secretary of state for equal opportunities, people with disabilities, science policy and fighting poverty. She takes over from her N-VA colleague Elke Sleurs, who stepped down to lead the party’s election list on the Ghent city council.

Demir (pictured) is from Genk, has Turkish-Kurdish roots and studied law in Leuven, before practising as a specialist in labour law in Antwerp. She was elected in Antwerp in 2010 and again in 2014. Before taking over as equal opportunities minister, she chaired the Flemish government’s integration agency.

Demir visited the royal palace last week to take the oath of allegiance. Around her wrist was the red handkerchief that her father wore in the mines of Limburg, where he worked after coming to Belgium from Turkey in the 1970s.

“It’s our family’s good luck token,” she said. “My father always said we mustn’t forget where we came from.”

In the course of her career, Demir has been given the nickname “Iron Lady”, and not only because demir means iron in Turkish. She has argued, for example, in favour of limiting the duration of unemployment benefits to encourage people to try harder to find work. She attributes her stances to her own experiences growing up.

She has also received death threats because of her outspoken views on the oppression of Turkey’s Kurdish population. Earlier this month, one man who had made threats was sentenced to six months in prison.

Photo courtesy N-VA