Nalin Pekgul (née Baksi, born 30 April 1967) is a Swedish Social Democratic politician, nurse and former parliamentarian. She was the first Muslim woman to sit in the Swedish Parliament.
Nalin Pekgul | |
|---|---|
 Pekgul in 2007 | |
| Born | 30 April 1967 Batman, Turkey |
| Nationality | Turkish, Swedish |
| Occupation | Politician |
| Years active | 1994–present |
| Known for | Former member of the Swedish parliament |
| Spouse | Cheko Pekgul |
Life
editPekgul was born in Batman, Turkey, but migrated to Sweden with her family in 1980 when she was 13. She is the sister of the Kurdish nationalist and anti-racism activist Kurdo Baksi and niece of the author Mahmud Baksi. Pekgul trained as a nurse, a profession in which she worked both before and after her election as a politician.[1]
Political activities
editIn 1982, Pekgul joined the Swedish Social Democratic Youth League in Tensta, a suburb of Stockholm.
Between 1994 and 2002, Pekgul was a member of the Swedish parliament. She was chairwoman of Social Democratic Women in Sweden (Swedish: Sveriges socialdemokratiska kvinnoförbund) 2003–2011.[2] Aftonbladet noted that Pekgul was the first Muslim woman to be elected to the Swedish parliament.[3]
Pekgul has supported a progressive form of Islam and ideas of Islamic feminism.[2] She supports the Swedish monarchy and has argued that the Social Democrats should remove calls for a republic from their party programme.[4]
After an absence from Swedish politics of seven years, Pekgul announced in 2018 that she would make a political comeback to campaign against religious extremism and honour culture.[5][6] She campaigned in Gothenburg with Ann-Sofie Hermansson, chairman of the municipal council. She told Aftonbladet that it is the fight against the Sweden Democrats that engages her.[3] The Social Democrats have been criticised for not raising issues of honour violence for fear of losing votes.[6]
References
edit- ^ Russell, Jesse (13 July 2012). Nalin Pekgul. p. 34. ISBN 978-5512346129.
- ^ a b ""Jag utmanar starka krafter"". www.dagenssamhalle.se (in Swedish). Retrieved 2017-04-02.
- ^ a b "Nalin Pekgul gör politisk comeback". Aftonbladet (in Swedish). 27 June 2018. Retrieved 2019-03-28.
- ^ SvenskPolitik1 (2013-07-31), Ekots lördagsintervju 2006 - Nalin Pekgul (S), archived from the original on 2021-12-19, retrieved 2019-03-25
{{citation}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ Joelsson, Filip. "Nalin Pekgul gör politisk comeback – ska bekämpa extremism". Metro (in Swedish). Archived from the original on 2019-03-25. Retrieved 2019-03-25.
- ^ a b "Avgående S-profilen tog kamp mot extremism". varldenidag.se (in Swedish). Retrieved 2019-03-28.