Cem Özdemir

Cem Özdemir   (politician)
Born	21 December 1965
Nationality	German
Spouse	Pía María Castro
Member of	American Council on Germany/Young Leaders/2001, Atlantic Initiative, Atlantik-Brücke, European Council on Foreign Relations, German Marshall Fund, Transatlantic Institute/Friends of Israel, WEF/Global Leaders for Tomorrow/2002
Leader of Alliance 90/The Greens In office 15 November 2008 - 27 January 2018 Succeeded by Annalena Baerbock  Member of the Bundestag  In office 22 October 2013 - Present Preceded by Guido Westerwelle  Member of the European Parliament for Germany In office 13 June 2004 - 7 June 2009

Cem Özdemir is a German politician of the German political party Alliance 90/The Greens. He is of part of the carefully nurtured party fraction that brought The Greens from a pacifist party to a strongly militaristic ('olive green') stance, pointing correctly out that "we Greens have lost our fear of departments that deal with security issues.".

He has spoken in support of the wars, 'humanitarian interventions', in Kosovo, the 20-year occupation of Afghanistan, Libya 2011 and for a military campaign in Syria. The party's image as peace-loving is immensely useful to create an altruistic image for modern wars, and Özdemir is one of the top candidates for Defence Minister in a future German government. He has mused on the "exciting question" of whether it is "actually a law of nature that conservatives always end up at the top of the defense ministry." and with false modesty "there is nothing that speaks against a female green defense minister."

In September 2004, Cem Özdemir was among the signatories of an open letter to the heads of state and government of NATO and the EU against the policies of the Russian president Putin, published by the neo-conservative American think tank Project for the New American Century (PNAC).

Five-day internship at the Bundeswehr

In 2019, he completed a five-day internship at the Bundeswehr, where he was appointed First Lieutenant, cited the oath and had to stand to attention. The Bundeswehr wrote in a report about the course that it wanted to win the participants as "multipliers", to further the cause of the army. Özdemir said "as a parliamentarian, I decide on mandates for military operations. It's about existential issues, life and death. That is a huge responsibility. So I thought it was good to get a deeper insight into the work of the troop myself."

He is for building a pan-European army and an EU military-industrial complex, saying "it would be more effective than this abstract goal if each army did not cook its own soup in terms of equipment. Defense policy should not be industrial policy. How about a tank that is standardized across Europe, for example?", and more than implying that this combined army will be used in wars abroad: "we will live in a world where Americans no longer feel responsible for anything. Even the question of what is happening in North Africa, whether countries are destabilizing there, whether Islamists are settling down or autocrats rule, will interest only a few in the USA. But we must be interested."

Other activities

In 2002, Özdemir took out a credit with Moritz Hunzinger, a German PR consultant and lobbyist, in order to overcome personal financial issues. This affair was also associated with Rudolf Scharping, former German Minister of Defence (1998 – 2002). Subsequently, Özdemir resigned as spokesman for domestic affairs and as a member of the Bundestag.

• Berlin office of the American Jewish Committee (AJC), Member of the Advisory Board
• Das Progressive Zentrum, Member of the Circle of Friends
• Deutsche Telekom, Yes, I can! Initiative for Children and Young People, Member of the Board of Trustees
• European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR), Founding Member
• German Association for Small and Medium-Sized Businesses (BVMW), Member of the Political Advisory Board
• German-Turkish Forum of Stuttgart, Member of the Board of Trustees
• Stiftung neue verantwortung, Member of the Presidium
• Theodor Heuss Foundation, Member of the Board of Trustees
• Amadeu Antonio Foundation, Founding Member
• Berlin Center for Torture Victims, Member of the Advisory Board (1998–2002)
• ZDF, Member of the Television Board (2009–2013)

 

Events Participated in

Event	Start	End	Location(s)	Description
Brussels Forum/2009	20 March 2009	22 March 2009	Belgium Brussels	Yearly discreet get-together of huge amount of transatlantic politicians, media and military and corporations, under the auspices of the CIA and NATO-close German Marshall Fund.
Brussels Forum/2010	26 March 2010	28 March 2010	Belgium Brussels	Yearly discreet get-together of huge amount of transatlantic politicians, media and military and corporations, under the auspices of the CIA and NATO-close German Marshall Fund.
Brussels Forum/2018	8 March 2018	10 March 2018	Belgium Brussels	Annual 3 day spooky get-together of transatlantic politicians, media and military and corporations, under the auspices of the CIA and German Marshall Fund. Discussed the "Fight for Economic Equality".
Munich Security Conference/2010	5 February 2010	7 February 2010	Germany Munich Bavaria	An anti-war demonstration outside described it as "Nothing more than a media-effectively staged war propaganda event, which this year had the purpose of justifying the NATO troop increase in Afghanistan and glorifying the continuation of the war as a contribution to peace and stability."
Munich Security Conference/2013	1 February 2013	3 February 2013	Germany Munich Bavaria	The 49th Munich Security Conference
Munich Security Conference/2015	6 February 2015	8 February 2015	Germany Munich Bavaria	"400 high-ranking decision-makers in international politics, including some 20 heads of state and government as well as more than 60 foreign and defence ministers, met in Munich to discuss current crises and conflicts."
Munich Security Conference/2017	17 February 2017	19 February 2017	Germany Munich Bavaria	The 53rd Munich Security Conference
Munich Security Conference/2018	12 February 2018	14 February 2018	Germany Munich Bavaria	The 54th Munich Security Conference
Munich Security Conference/2019	15 February 2019	17 February 2019	Germany Munich Bavaria	The 55th Munich Security Conference, which included "A Spreading Plague" aimed at "identifying gaps and making recommendations to improve the global system for responding to deliberate, high consequence biological events."
Munich Security Conference/2020	14 February 2020	16 February 2020	Germany Munich Bavaria	The 56th Munich Security Conference, in 2020, "welcomed an unprecedented number of high-ranking international decision-makers."
Munich Security Conference/2022	18 February 2022	20 February 2022	Germany Munich Bavaria	Slightly less than 1/3 of the 664 of the participants have pages here
Munich Security Conference/2023	17 February 2023	19 February 2023	Germany Munich Bavaria	Annual conference of mid-level functionaries from the military-industrial complex - politicians, propagandists and lobbyists. The real decisions are made by deep politicians behind the scenes, elsewhere.
WEF/Annual Meeting/2013	23 January 2013	27 January 2013	World Economic Forum Switzerland	2500 mostly unelected leaders met to discuss "leading through adversity"

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