Her Excellency
Dilan Yeşilgöz
Yeşilgöz in 2022
Leader of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy
Assumed office
14 August 2023
Preceded byMark Rutte
Minister of Justice and Security
Assumed office
10 January 2022
Prime MinisterMark Rutte
Preceded byFerdinand Grapperhaus
State Secretary for Economic Affairs and Climate Policy
In office
25 May 2021 – 10 January 2022
Serving with Mona Keijzer (2021)
Prime MinisterMark Rutte
Preceded byMartijn van Dam (2017)
Succeeded byHans Vijlbrief
Member of the House of Representatives
Assumed office
6 December 2023
In office
23 March 2017 – 3 September 2021
Personal details
Born
Dilan Yeşilgöz

(1977-06-18) 18 June 1977
Ankara, Turkey
Citizenship
  • Netherlands
  • Turkey
[1][2][3]
Political partyPeople's Party for Freedom and Democracy (2009–present)
Spouse
René Zegerius
​
(m. 2014)​
EducationVrije Universiteit Amsterdam

Dilan Yeşilgöz[lower-alpha 1] (born 18 June 1977) is a Dutch politician who has served as Leader of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy since 2023. She has also served as the Minister of Justice and Security in the fourth Rutte cabinet since 10 January 2022. Yeşilgöz-Zegerius previously served as a member of the House of Representatives from 2017 to 2021 and as State Secretary for Economic Affairs and Climate Policy from 2021 until 2022.

Early life

Yeşilgöz was born in Ankara, Turkey and migrated to the Netherlands as a child.[5] Her mother is of Turkish origin and her father is Kurdish[6][7] and originally from Tunceli.[8] Her mother, Fatma Özgümüş, is the director of the Netherlands Refugee Organization (VON).[9] Her father, Yücel Yeşilgöz, a left-wing trade unionist, escaped from Turkey and sought asylum in the Netherlands in 1980, after the 1980 coup. Dilan Yeşilgöz, at the age of 7 and as a refugee, escaped and claimed asylum in the Netherlands, along with her mother and sister. [10]

After receiving her secondary education at the Vallei College in Amersfoort between 1991 and 1997, Yeşilgöz studied social and cultural sciences at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, where she obtained a master's degree in culture, organization and management in 2003.[11][12]

Political career

Yeşilgöz-Zegerius started her political career at the Socialist Party, where Yesilgöz was a board member for the Amersfoort branch of the party.[13] After this she started writing for the youth delegation of the Labour Party and followed an internship at GroenLinks.[14]

From 2014 to 2017, Yeşilgöz-Zegerius held a seat in the municipal council of Amsterdam.[15] She was placed fourth on the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy list in the 2014 municipal election. As a councilor, Yeşilgöz committed to tackling and criminalizing street harassment of LGBT people and women. She worked on this in the city council for three years, but proposals were always rejected by a majority. When she left for the House of Representatives in 2017, then mayor Eberhard van der Laan praised her tenacity. He called it his farewell gift to Yeşilgöz that there would be an integrated approach to street intimidation in Amsterdam, based on a proposal she had submitted with Marijke Shashavari of the CDA at the time. A majority of the city council approved this proposal. De Volkskrant characterized her tenacious nature as a "pit bull with empathy".[16]

Yeşilgöz-Zegerius was elected to the House of Representatives in the 2017 general election. She initially served as her party's spokesperson for justice and security,[17] but her portfolio later included climate policy and energy policy.[18] On 25 May 2021, Yesilgöz was appointed State Secretary for Economic Affairs and Climate Policy in the demissionary third Rutte cabinet, serving alongside Mona Keijzer.[18] On 10 January 2022, she was appointed Minister of Justice and Security in the fourth Rutte cabinet.

On 12 July 2023, two days after Mark Rutte's resignation, Yeşilgöz-Zegerius announced her candidacy to become the next Leader of the VVD.[19] The following day, the party board formally nominated her for the position.[20] On 14 August, Yesilgöz officially became the party leader of the VVD.[21]

Political positions

As Minister of Justice and Security, Yesilgöz advocated for criminal justice reform and strict policies against terrorism and organized crime. She supported laws to protect journalists who had been threatened for their work and supports deporting extremist imams from the Schengen area. In 2019, Yesilgöz called for a ban on "single shots" and heavy flares within the F2 category of the Fireworks policy in the European Union, a policy idea which was opposed by the rest of the VVD. She also supported mandatory use of body cameras for police officers.[22] Although from a refugee background, Yesilgöz has said she would pursue further controls on immigration if elected Prime Minister.[23]

In 2019, Yesilgöz argued that Dutch ISIS terrorists detained by Kurdish forces should be tried on the spot rather than be repatriated to the Netherlands. She also argued in favour of blocking the repatriation of ISIS members, an idea which was opposed by coalition parties D66 and ChristenUnie who argued they should face trial in the Netherlands.[24][25]

In 2022, Yesilgöz delivered the annual Hendrik Jan Schoo lecture entitled "Doing What It Takes to Protect Our Democratic Rule of Law" in which she criticised wokeism, far-right politicians, and conspiracy theorists, and argued that the Dutch constitutional state is allegedly under pressure from left-wing activism.[26][27] Yesilgöz considers Frits Bolkestein as her main liberal role model.[28]

In contrast to her predecessor Mark Rutte, Yesilgöz said she would not exclude Geert Wilders and the PVV from coalition talks ahead of the 2023 Dutch general election.[23]

Personal life

Yesilgöz married René Zegerius in 2014.[29] She is an Ajax supporter and a country music fan.[30]

Although she has dual nationality, she considers herself Dutch and not Turkish. On the television program College Tour, she stated in September 2023 that she had never had a Turkish passport and that she had only known for a year that she still had Turkish nationality. With this knowledge, she says she formally renounced her Turkish nationality, but it had not yet been granted by the Turkish government at the time of the interview.[31]

Electoral history

Electoral history of Dilan Yeşilgöz
Year Body Party Pos. Votes Result Ref.
Party seats Individual
2017 House of Representatives People's Party for Freedom and Democracy 19 5,643 33 Won [32]
2021 House of Representatives People's Party for Freedom and Democracy 5 45,630 34 Won [33]
2023 House of Representatives People's Party for Freedom and Democracy 1 1,356,883 24 Won [34]

Notes

  1. ↑ The name Dilan Yeşilgöz is pronounced [ˈdilɑ ɲeːˈʃilɡʏs].[4] In isolation, the names are pronounced [ˈdilɑn] and [jeːˈʃilɡʏs].

References

  1. ↑ "Van der Staaij: Rutte is als vervellende slang • CDA: Kabinet moet vertrouwen burger herwinnen". 18 January 2022. Archived from the original on 18 January 2022. Retrieved 18 January 2022.
  2. ↑ "Dilan Yesilgoz: 'Ik ben geen hoer als ik 's nachts op het CS ben'". de Volkskrant (in Dutch). 14 January 2016. Archived from the original on 31 March 2023. Retrieved 11 July 2023.
  3. ↑ "Wilders matigt toon, maar zeker niet op alle gebieden. 'We moeten allemaal over onze schaduw heen springen'". 16 September 2023. Archived from the original on 28 October 2023. Retrieved 28 October 2023.
  4. ↑ "Vragenvuur - Minister Yesilgöz-Zegerius". YouTube. Archived from the original on 7 March 2023. Retrieved 7 March 2023.
  5. ↑ "Dilan Yesilgöz: 'Mijn afkomst is relevant als ik die relevant vind'". Het Parool (in Dutch). 17 July 2017. Archived from the original on 3 February 2020. Retrieved 3 February 2020.
  6. ↑ "Mediagenieke VVD'er Yesilgöz maakte bliksemsnel carrière". 12 July 2023. Retrieved 12 July 2023.
  7. ↑ "De wispelturige politieke zoektocht van Dilan Yesilgöz-Zegerius". Financieel Dagblad. Archived from the original on 6 January 2022. Retrieved 6 January 2022.
  8. ↑ "Dersimli kadın siyasetçi Hollanda'da bakan oldu". Rûdaw (in Turkish). 26 May 2021. Archived from the original on 4 January 2022. Retrieved 27 May 2021.
  9. ↑ "VVD Amsterdam - De Vrije Amsterdammer: Dilan Yesilgoz-Zegerius". VVD (in Dutch). Archived from the original on 12 February 2022. Retrieved 3 September 2023.
  10. ↑ @OOktayyildiz3 (12 July 2023). "16-)sendikacı Yücel Yeşilgöz'ün kızı. Yücel Yeşilgöz, darbe sonrası 1980 yılında Türkiye'den kaçarak Hollanda'ya sığınma talebinde bulunmuş.Dilan Yeşilgöz de, annesi ve kız kardeşi ile birlikte 1984 yılında bir tekneyle Yunanistan'ın Kos adasına kaçmış, oradan da mülteci..." (Tweet) (in Turkish). Retrieved 12 July 2023 – via Twitter.
  11. ↑ Members of Cabinet: Dilan Yeşilgöz-Zegerius Archived 2023-04-02 at the Wayback Machine - website of the Government of the Netherlands
  12. ↑ Wie zijn de VU-alumni in de Tweede Kamer? Archived 2023-06-05 at the Wayback Machine - website of VU Amsterdam
  13. ↑ "'Rete-ambitieuze' en mediawijze Dilan". Het Parool (in Dutch). 12 June 2023. Archived from the original on 12 July 2023. Retrieved 7 July 2023.
  14. ↑ "from the original on 3 March 2021. Retrieved on 7 July 2023". Archived from the original on 12 July 2023. Retrieved 12 July 2023.
  15. ↑ D. (Dilan) Yesilgöz-Zegerius Archived 2021-04-21 at the Wayback Machine, Parlement.com
  16. ↑ "Dilan Yesilgöz: een pitbull met empathie die de Kamer in wil". de Volkskrant (in Dutch). 20 February 2017. Archived from the original on 12 July 2023. Retrieved 12 July 2023.
  17. ↑ Lukas Kotkamp (3 January 2022), 8 things to know about the incoming Dutch government Archived 2022-01-05 at the Wayback Machine Politico Europe.
  18. 1 2 "VVD draagt Dilan Yesilgöz voor als staatssecretaris van Economische Zaken". NU.nl (in Dutch). 25 May 2021. Archived from the original on 25 May 2021. Retrieved 25 May 2021.
  19. ↑ "Yesilgöz wil Rutte wél opvolgen als VVD-leider en stelt zich kandidaat". NU (in Dutch). 12 July 2023. Retrieved 12 July 2023.
  20. ↑ "VVD-bestuur wil Yesilgöz als opvolger Rutte". NOS (in Dutch). 13 July 2023. Archived from the original on 13 July 2023. Retrieved 13 July 2023.
  21. ↑ "Dutch Justice Minister Becomes New Leader of Rutte's VVD Party". Yahoo. 14 August 2023. Archived from the original on 20 August 2023. Retrieved 14 August 2023.
  22. ↑ "Toch geen meerderheid binnen VVD voor verbod op zware vuurpijlen". Archived from the original on 25 January 2021. Retrieved 3 March 2021.
  23. 1 2 "Far-right Party for Freedom makes gains in poll ahead of Netherlands election". TheGuardian.com. Archived from the original on 19 November 2023. Retrieved 19 November 2023.
  24. ↑ "VVD: 'IS-kinderen helemaal niet naar Nederland halen'". nporadio1.nl. 15 October 2019. Archived from the original on 15 October 2019. Retrieved 15 October 2019.
  25. ↑ "Coalitie diep verdeeld over IS-strijders: 'Het kabinet moet kunnen handelen. De tijd tikt'". de Volkskrant. 14 October 2019. Archived from the original on 15 October 2019. Retrieved 15 October 2019.
  26. ↑ "Minister Yeşilgöz haalt in HJ Schoo-lezing uit naar woke-beweging en wappies". De Telegraaf. 12 September 2022. Archived from the original on 16 September 2022. Retrieved 17 September 2022.
  27. ↑ Boztas, Senay (13 September 2022). "Justice minister slams wokeism, extreme right and conspiracy theorists in democracy speech". DutchNews.nl. Archived from the original on 16 August 2023. Retrieved 16 August 2023.
  28. ↑ "VVD Amsterdam - De Vrije Amsterdammer: Dilan Yesilgoz-Zegerius". VVD (in Dutch). 20 February 2014. Archived from the original on 12 February 2022. Retrieved 3 September 2023.
  29. ↑ Reimink, Senna (3 January 2021). "René Zegerius de man van Dilan Yesilgöz-Zegerius". Sterren op TV (in Dutch). Archived from the original on 12 July 2023. Retrieved 12 July 2023.
  30. ↑ @OOktayyildiz3 (12 July 2023). "17-)olarak Hollanda'ya gelmiş. Kamu yayıncısı NOS'a göre sıkı bir Ajax taraftarı olan Yeşilgöz'ün Moos adında bir köpeği var, country müziğini seviyor ve bileğinde büyükannesinin adının yazılı olduğu bir dövme bulunuyor" (Tweet) (in Turkish) – via Twitter.
  31. ↑ "Dilan Yesilgöz over de Nederlandse nationaliteit". KRO-NCRV (in Dutch). Retrieved 12 December 2023.
  32. ↑ "Uitslag Tweede Kamerverkiezing 2017 (getekend exemplaar)" [Results House of Representatives 2017 (signed example)] (PDF). Dutch Electoral Council (in Dutch). 21 March 2017. pp. 20–21. Retrieved 21 December 2023.
  33. ↑ "Proces-verbaal verkiezingsuitslag Tweede Kamer 2021" [Report of the election results House of Representatives 2021] (PDF). Dutch Electoral Council (in Dutch). 29 March 2021. pp. 14–15. Retrieved 21 December 2023.
  34. ↑ "Proces-verbaal van de uitslag van de verkiezing van de Tweede Kamer der Staten-Generaal 2023 d.d. 4 december 2023" [Report of the results of the election of the House of Representatives on 4 December 2023] (PDF). Dutch Electoral Council (in Dutch). 4 December 2023. pp. 15–16. Retrieved 21 December 2023.
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