Cansu Özdemir (born 8 September 1988) is a German politician of The Left from Hamburg. She is a member of the Hamburg Parliament.[1]
Özdemir was born in Hamburg to Kurdish parents in 1988.[2] After she received her Abitur from Kieler Straße Business School[3] in 2009, she studied cultural anthropology and politics at the University of Hamburg.[4]
In 2009, Özdemir also became a member of The Left and in 2011 she entered the Hamburg Parliament[5] of which she has been a member ever since. Özdemir led The Left in the 2020 Hamburg state election.[6]
She is known for her support for the legalization of the Kurdistan Workers' Party,[7] which is banned in Germany. Özdemir is also a strong critic of the Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, and the foreign policy of Germany regarding Turkey. She called Recep Tayyip Erdoğan a "dictator" in an interview.,[8] and is also critical of the Syrian civil war.
She was an unsuccessful candidate for the Bundestag in the 2021 German federal election. She contested the constituency of Hamburg-Altona.