Gülistan Yüksel


Gülistan Yüksel is a German politician. She has served as a member of the Bundestag, the German parliament, since 2013.

Life and professional career

Yüksel was born in Adana, Turkey. At the age of eight years, she moved to Mönchengladbach, Germany, and grew up in Rheydt. After vocational training as a pharmacy assistant, she worked in a pharmacy in Rheydt. Later, she became head of a taxi company.
Yüksel is married and has two children. She was awarded the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany in 2007 for her engagement for migrants.

Political career

Yüksel became an SPD member in 1997. She was deputy chair of her local party organisation from 2005 to 2014 and chair since 2014. After serving on the Mönchengladbach city foreigner's council in the mid-1990s, she was a member of the city council for most of the time between 2002 to 2013. She became a member of the Bundestag in 2013 and was reelected in 2017 as one of 14 members of the Bundestag with Turkish roots.