Muhterem Aras, 50, is the first Muslim woman to be elected Speaker of State Parliament of Germany. Coming in with a significant majority, Ms. Aras told reporters, “We wrote history today.”
As a child, Ms. Aras’ family moved from Turkey to Stuttgart, Germany where her father worked for an elevator company and her mother was a cleaner. Ms. Aras would go on to become a tax accountant and financial affairs spokeswoman for the Green Party.
Jörg Meuthen, who leads the AfD in the Stuttgart parliament, dismissed the importance of the election. “We’ve always said that millions of people of Muslim faith are a part of Germany who live here, peacefully integrated,” Mr. Meuthen commented. “One of them is now speaker of the state parliament – so what?”
