Elif Eralp launched her election bid last autumn with the blunt statement: “People like me are actually not supposed to become mayor in this country.”
asserted
People → launch → country
So the fact that the 45-year-old lawyer and daughter of political migrants from Turkey is on the verge of becoming Berlin’s next mayor and the capital’s first leader of Turkish origin is quite the moment in German politics.
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lawyer → become → politics
After last weekend’s city state election, in which her far-left party, Die Linke, came first with more than a quarter of the votes, Eralp has become a household name.
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Eralp → come → votes
Eralp, whose candidacy has helped propel the party from the doldrums to the brink of heading a coalition government in Berlin for the first time, was feted as a star.
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candidacy → help → star
Some commentators suggested Germany was “having a [Zohran] Mamdani moment”, in reference to the democratic socialist mayor of New York.
uncertain
Germany → suggest → York
(One of his advisers was summoned to Berlin to help Eralp weeks before the poll.
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One → summon → poll
Her campaign was modelled on that of the veteran US senator Bernie Sanders.)
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campaign → model → senator
“In our city, love and justice won over hate … this signal goes out into the world,” Eralp said at her victory party, the “hate” a pointed reference to the far-right Alternative für Deutschland, which was celebrating coming first in another regional election.
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which → win → election
Even in liberal Berlin, the populist party made considerable gains.
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party → make → gains
It was Die Linke, however, that came out on top.
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that → come → top
With about 26% of the vote, the party not only outperformed the centre-left Social Democrats, whose presence has dominated Berlin politics for decades, and the Greens.
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presence → outperform → decades
It was also well ahead of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), the conservative party of the German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, which had previously held the mayoral position.
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which → hold → position
A lot is now at stake for Eralp, who has promised to be “a mayor for all Berliners”.
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who → promise → Berliners
Eralp, who was chosen in particular by the young (47% of whom voted for her) and who mobilised thousands of otherwise non-voters thanks in part to intensive door-to-door campaigning and social media, generated most interest with her ambitious promise to take on corporate giants over unaffordable housing in the German capital.
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who → choose → capital
Once described as “poor but sexy” by a former mayor for its low cost of living, Berlin’s rents have soared in recent years.
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rents → describe → years
In her nomination speech, the lawyer said: “I’m running so that our city becomes affordable again, so that real estate speculators don’t decide what happens to our city, but rather we do together.”
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we → say → city
She called sky-high rents a defining social issue, saying: “This city belongs to all of us, not to the speculators.”
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city → call → speculators
Merz has led the charge against Eralp’s plans to expropriate more than 200,000 Berlin flats from their corporate landlords, saying her policy – decried by some as “socialism on speed” – would have “calamitous effects” on the economy.
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policy → lead → economy
The chancellor has said he will push for laws to prevent her plans.
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he → say → plans
Eralp has pledged to plough on.
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Eralp → pledge → ?
It is not a given that Die Linke will take control of Berlin’s towering Rotes Rathaus, or red city hall, named after its red brick and not its association with leftwing politics.
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Linke → give → politics
Eralp’s victory has been overshadowed by accusations that Die Linke has failed to tackle antisemitism within its own ranks as well as charges that the party has tolerated – and at worst courted – the support of criminal gangs.
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party → overshadow → gangs
The Social Democrats and the Greens, potential coalition partners, have said they need urgent clarification on these alleged affiliations before they agree to be associated with Die Linke.
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they → say → Linke
Die Linke’s leadership has repeatedly denied the accusations while vowing to clampdown on any antisemitism in its ranks.
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leadership → deny → ranks
On Tuesday it announced that one of its Berlin MPs, who is alleged to have connections both to criminal gangs and a terrorist-related, pro-Hamas organisation, would “suspend his parliamentary duties until further notice”.
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who → announce → notice
On Monday, Eralp sought to reassure critics.
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Eralp → seek → critics
“Any form of glorification or trivialisation of violence or terror is completely out of the question,” she said.
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she → say → question
“I stand by that, and for me the promise of protection applies unequivocally to Jewish people just as it does to Muslims, Christians and all people in our city.”
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it → stand → city
Eralp has been keen to stress the ordinariness of her life.
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Eralp → stress → life
She lives with her husband and two children in a rental flat in her own constituency of Kreuzberg, in south-central Berlin, one of the city’s most diverse quarters and home to one of Germany’s liveliest Turkish communities.
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She → live → communities
Her children attend a state school in her kiez, or neighbourhood, and she has kept her family away from the cameras “for their own safety”, she says.
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she → attend → safety
Much of her campaigning in the district was carried out in Turkish.
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Much → carry → Turkish
Unlike most Turkish migrants, Eralp’s parents did not come to Germany as Gastarbeiter, or guest workers, from Eastern Anatolia but were trade unionists and socialists from Istanbul who were imprisoned after a military coup for their political beliefs.
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who → come → beliefs
Her mother, Hülya, a well-known feminist in Turkey, was only allowed out of jail because she was heavily pregnant with Eralp.
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she → know → Eralp
She and Eralp’s father, Selçuk, a doctor, fled to Germany, where their daughter was born in Munich in 1981.
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daughter → flee → 1981
The family experienced a complicated asylum process, which Eralp has said helped shape her view of the world.
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Eralp → experience → world
“I’ve experienced a lot about what it means when authorities make decisions you don’t understand.
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you → experience → decisions
I’ve also felt racism and discrimination first-hand, so my life story has a lot to do with where I’ve ended up now,” she has said.
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she → feel → lot
She recalls how her parents often put up asylum seekers in their home over many years, and the 15 years of struggle that her mother, a trainer for nurses, faced before her qualifications were recognised in Germany.
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qualifications → recall → Germany
At the age of 10, Eralp founded a conservation club with friends in her parents’ garage, and later she went into the anti-nuclear movement.
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she → found → movement
…and 5 more, not listed.
The Aporia
