Will the German capital be entrusted to a Turkish woman? Elif Eralp marches on Berlin

IŞIN ERTÜRK

Elif Eralp, the daughter of a socialist family who came to Germany from Turkey as political refugees, is closer than ever to governing Berlin.

The Left Party (Die Linke) is first in the capital in the latest poll. When we look at Germany overall, the right-wing populist Alternative for Germany (AfD), which also includes fascist groups, is the leading party. The same country. Two different political pictures. So what is happening in Berlin? Is the capital turning in the opposite direction while Germany shifts to the right? Or are the two extremes growing as the center dissolves?

If Elif Eralp takes the helm of Berlin, another figure of Turkish origin will have taken a seat in one of the important offices of the German state. Moreover, Eralp is not the only example.

Cem Özdemir from the Alliance 90/The Greens is currently the Minister-President of Baden-Württemberg. Sinan Selen is at the head of German domestic intelligence. Muhterem Aras from the Greens presided over the Baden-Württemberg State Parliament for many years. Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) deputy Macit Karaahmetoğlu heads one of the most sensitive committees of the Federal Parliament.

BERLIN'S MAIN ISSUE: MIGRATION? NONSENSE, THE ELEPHANT IS IN THE ROOM

Eralp placed housing, not migration, at the center of her election campaign. High rents, the housing problem, giant housing companies, expropriation. It is a tough political line for a city like Berlin, and yes, it truly overlaps with the voters' agenda.

The Left Party advocates for the expropriation of large housing companies and the implementation of the results of the "Deutsche Wohnen & Co enteignen" referendum held in 2021. Eralp does not hide this either.

On the contrary, she brings it to the center of the election.

This is clearly one of the reasons why the German media's interest in Eralp has increased in recent days.

The centrist "t-online" website, one of Germany's highest-reach digital news portals owned by the private media group Ströer, writes in its extensive August 23 profile that Elif Eralp is running to govern Berlin with the demand to expropriate large housing companies. The Left Party taking first place with a 22 percent vote share in the latest Forsa survey also takes this possibility out of the realm of theory.

Although the AfD places "migration" and "security" issues at the center, Eralp pursues a persistent policy on the axis of "rent". There is also this: The AfD approaches the issue through the vein of "borders", while Eralp approaches it through "homes".

The contrast seems to tell us a lot. That the source of anger in Germany is not migration or anything like that, but clearly the burning "struggle to make a living". The elections in Berlin will actually be somewhat of a test of this.

LIKE A MATCH SCORE BUT KEEP IT IN MIND: LEFT PARTY 22, AfD 18

The poll results are already out there. While the Left Party settles at the top with 22 percent in Berlin, the AfD follows behind with 18 percent, and the Christian Democratic Union (CDU)  with 18 percent.  The latest Forsa survey yields this result. There are about four weeks left until the election.

Indeed, the headline of "t-online"'s analysis is also noteworthy at this point: "The Left Party is now almost unstoppable" (Die Linke ist kaum noch zu stoppen). For now, it is too early to see this headline as a definitive result and say "Berlin has turned left".

Because we are talking about a very strong possibility of Eralp and her team coming to power if an election were held today. Even if Berlin says left, Germany overall says right, and the AfD continues to grow. We are talking about one from the left and one from the right, and in the meantime, the real blow is dealt to the centrist parties.

ERALP IS NOT ONLY A CANDIDATE FOR MAYOR

The point missed when looking from Turkey is that Berlin is also a state. Therefore, Eralp is a candidate for more than just the mayoralty. If her party forms the government, the Berlin Parliament could elect her as the Minister-President and Mayor of Berlin. In other words, Elif Eralp is also a candidate to head the government that will rule the German capital. When nominating Eralp, the Left Party had also openly declared its target as the "Red City Hall".

WHO IS ELİF ERALP?

Born in Munich in 1981. Her mother and father are socialists and trade unionists. They fled from Turkey to Germany after the 1980 military coup. Eralp studied law. She came to Berlin in 2010. She worked in the field of legal policies in the Left Party's Federal Parliament Group. She entered the Berlin State Parliament in 2021. According to a comprehensive profile by Tagesspiegel, Berlin's long-established liberal daily newspaper, her parents are Kurdish. Her mother was eight months pregnant when she arrived in Germany. Eralp also openly describes herself as the daughter of refugees who came to Germany from Turkey.

She advocates for granting broader political participation rights to citizens of non-EU countries. She wants the word "Rasse", meaning "race", to be removed from the Berlin Constitution. She highlights the protection of the right to asylum, the housing of refugees, and the fight against discrimination.

THE ISRAEL-PALESTINE EQUATION: ELİF ERALP'S DIFFICULT DANCE

When it comes to the Israel issue, the situation is complicated. Because Eralp is careful not to stand in the same place as the hardest wing of her own party here.  In March 2026, she openly opposed the "Zionism" decision of the Lower Saxony Left Party organization and said that Israel's right to exist could not be a matter of negotiation.

And that the historical meaning Zionism holds for many Jews cannot be ignored...

But we cannot really say that she has backed down on the Palestine issue either. At the Left Party congress in November 2025, she stood behind the line advocating that both the concerns of the Palestinian community and the fears of the Jewish community in Berlin should be taken into account. At the same congress, the Gaza war was one of the fiercest topics of debate within the party.

In December, she requested the establishment of a sister city relationship between Berlin and Ramallah. But she also defended the continuation of the existing sister city relationship with Tel Aviv. She said "Tel Aviv and Ramallah" rather than "Either Tel Aviv or Ramallah". Although some might label this as "keeping everyone happy", Eralp calls it "inclusive politics". Eralp is a politician working in the fields of combating antisemitism, racism, anti-Muslim sentiment, and discrimination. In May, she even opened up for discussion the possibility of major Jewish and Muslim holidays becoming official holidays in Berlin.

So how much resonance will Eralp's prescription find in today's hardened Germany? We will see.

This detail should not be skipped either: "Sahra Wagenknecht". Eralp does not see eye to eye with Sahra Wagenknecht, one of Germany's strongest peace advocate politicians. Wagenknecht had left the Left Party and founded the BSW, which bears her name. Elif Eralp also took part in the attempt to expel her from the party while she was still in the Left Party.

WHAT HAPPENS IF SHE WINS?

Even if Elif Eralp wins, she cannot stop the rise of the AfD in Germany. But it would also be wrong to underestimate it. If Berlin is added to the visibility of figures of Turkish origin ranging from Cem Özdemir to Sinan Selen, and from Muhterem Aras to Macit Karaahmetoğlu at critical points of the state and politics, how will we read this? Will we start investigating whether there is another state mind at play?

On September 20, there will also be an important test regarding what kind of politics can be used to respond to the rise of the far right in Germany. The real question seems to be not whether Elif Eralp wants to govern Berlin, but whether Berlin is ready to be governed by Elif Eralp.

PHOTO: Elif Eralp_Helin Bereket 5 / elif-eralp.de

News Source: 12punto