Sibel Arslan

Summary

Sibel Arslan (Turkish pronunciation: [sibel aɾslaŋ]; born 23 June 1980)[1] is a Turkish-born Swiss lawyer and politician who currently serves on the National Council (Switzerland) for the movement BastA! (Green Party).[2] There she concurrently also is a representative to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe since 2020.[3] She previously served on the Grand Council of Basel-Stadt between 2005 and 2016.

Sibel Arslan
Official portrait, 2019
Member of the National Council (Switzerland)
Assumed office
30 November 2015
ConstituencyCanton of Basel-Stadt
Member of the Grand Council of Basel-Stadt
In office
2005–2016
Personal details
Born
Sibel Arslan

(1980-06-23) 23 June 1980 (age 43)
Erzincan, Turkey
Nationality
Political partyGreen Party of Switzerland
Other political
affiliations
BastA!
ResidenceBasel, Switzerland
OccupationLawyer, politician
WebsiteOfficial website

Early life and education edit

Sibel Arslan is of Kurdish origin,[4] and arrived in Switzerland in 1991 with her mother and two brothers. Her father had already arrived six years previously as a refugee.[5] The family settled in Basel. In 2002, she graduated from the Gymnasium Bäumlihof in Basel. She studied law at the University of Basel and graduated in 2011.

Along with her brother, Arslan managed the shisha bar 'Susam' in Barfüsserplatz from 2006 to 2007.[5][6] Arslan has been working as a legal advisor to the Basel Gewerkschaftsbund since 2012. From 2013 to 2015 she was a career adviser at the Office for Counseling and Adult Protection of the Canton of Basel-Stadt. Since March 2015 she has worked as a lawyer in the General Secretariat of the Security Directorate of the Canton of Basel-Landschaft.[6]

Political career edit

Arslan joined BastA! in 2004,[5] a leftist ecological party in the canton of Basel-Stadt. BastA is a member of the Green Party of Switzerland. From 2005 to 2016 she sat in the Grand Council of Basel-Stadt.[7] In 2007, she became a member of the Justice, Safety and Sports Commission and, from 2013, the Pardon Commission.[7]  

At the end of 2014 the Cantonal Regierungsrat (Executive Councilor) of Basel Landschaft, Security Director Isaac Reber revoked an agreed appointment of Arslan as head of the cantonal penal sanctions and measures committee, after the Basler Zeitung had led a campaign against her.[8] The newspaper had alleged lack of qualifications and debts of about 60,000 Swiss francs.[9]  These claims covered three agreements that Arslan had also mentioned in the application process.[10] The fact that these claims were recorded in the debt collection register "was not clarified in all media reports".[11] At the time of Arslan's application, only a residual debt of CHF 5,000 had to be paid. This happened within a short time.[8]

Arslan was elected to the National Council in the 2015 Swiss federal election.[12] On 30 November 2015 she took the oath of office. The ceremony was held in Bern.[13] In Parliament she joined the fraction of the Green Party of Switzerland[14] and is a member of the Foreign Policy Commission and the Legal Commission.[15] In October 2019 she was re-elected to the National Council.[16]

Political positions edit

She is a defender of women rights and was shortly detained after she participated in the Swiss Women's Strike 2020[17] and supports the same-sex marriages.[18] Besides, she is a member of the Swiss Association of Foreign Policy.[19]

Personal life edit

In 2004 she became a Swiss citizen[6][20] and is a Turkish and Swiss dual citizen.[21]

References edit

  1. ^ Sibel Arslan kandidiert für vakanten Sitz im Basler Bürgerrat, Website der Sozialdemokratischen Partei Basel-Stadt, 14. Archived 9 December 2014 at the Wayback Machine
  2. ^ "Ratsmitglied ansehen". www.parlament.ch. Retrieved 29 September 2023.
  3. ^ https://pace.coe.int/en/members/8217
  4. ^ "PKK creates rift between Swiss Kurds and Turks". 3 November 2015. Retrieved 6 February 2022.
  5. ^ a b c "Sibel Arslan | Columne | FINGERZEIG". 29 October 2012. Archived from the original on 29 October 2012. Retrieved 7 March 2019.
  6. ^ a b c "Sibel Arslan kandidiert für vakanten Sitz im Basler Bürgerrat" (PDF). gruene-bs.ch. 14 March 2013. Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 August 2018.
  7. ^ a b "Mitglieder A-Z". www.grosserrat.bs.ch. Retrieved 7 March 2019.
  8. ^ a b "Sibel Arslan übernimmt befristete Juristenstelle". TagesWoche (in Swiss High German). 8 December 2014. Retrieved 7 March 2019.
  9. ^ Keller, Christian (29 November 2014). "Schulden und Qualifikationsmängel". Basler Zeitung (in German). ISSN 1420-3006. Retrieved 7 March 2019.
  10. ^ ""Fall Arslan" erledigt, Betreibungen eingestellt". TagesWoche (in Swiss High German). 6 December 2014. Retrieved 7 March 2019.
  11. ^ Siegenthaler, Peter (5 January 2016). "Sibel Arslan trotzte der Medienschelte". SWI swissinfo.ch (in German). Retrieved 7 March 2019.
  12. ^ Roland Schnetz (19 October 2015). "Fest bis in die Nacht – Basler Linke feiert Sibel Arslan" (in German). SRF Regionaljournal Basel. Retrieved 1 December 2015.
  13. ^ "FOKUS: Die Milizpolitiker in der Minderheit" (in German). 10vor10. 30 November 2015. Retrieved 1 December 2015.
  14. ^ "Grüne Fraktion". www.parlament.ch. Retrieved 11 March 2019.
  15. ^ "Ratsmitglied ansehen". www.parlament.ch. Retrieved 7 March 2019.
  16. ^ "Überraschung in Basel - GLP schnappt SVP-Sitz, Rot-Grün bleibt stark". Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen (SRF) (in German). 20 October 2019. Retrieved 13 December 2019.
  17. ^ "Frauenstreik in Basel – Grünen-Nationalrätin Sibel Arslan von Polizei abgeführt". Tages-Anzeiger (in German). 15 June 2020. Retrieved 28 October 2020.
  18. ^ "Sibel Arslan zur Ehe für alle". GRÜNE Schweiz (in German). 14 February 2019. Retrieved 28 October 2020.
  19. ^ "Vorstand". SGA ASPE (in German). Retrieved 28 March 2021.
  20. ^ "Sibel Arslan (36), Nationalrätin aus Basel-Stadt: "Mediale Gegenstimmen sind wichtig"". www.woz.ch (in German). 10 August 2016. Retrieved 28 March 2021.
  21. ^ "Die Doppelpass-Fraktion: Diese 19 Parlamentarier sind Doppelbürger". watson.ch (in German). Retrieved 7 March 2019.

External links edit

  • Biography of Sibel Arslan on the website of the Swiss Parliament. (German)
  • Website Sibel Arslan
  • Sibel Arslan on Twitter