Helin Evrim Sommer (née Evrim Baba; born 7 February 1985) is a German politician, a former member of the Berlin House of Representatives and of the German Bundestag for the state of Berlin.[1] She was a member of The Left party until May 2022.[2]
Early life and education
Sommer was born as Hêlîn Evrim Baba in Varto, Turkey. Her Kurdish name Hêlîn was not allowed at the time in Turkey, so her parents named her Evrim, which translates into evolution in Turkish.[2] Her family is of Kurdish Alevi origin. Her father was persecuted for his activity as a socialist trade unionist. After the 1980 coup d'état, the family fled to West Berlin.[2]
After completing her language training, Hêlîn Evrim Sommer passed the state examination for interpreters and translators in 1997 and ran a translation agency until 2000.[1] She worked as an interpreter, translator and expert for notaries and courts as well as for the Federal Office for the Recognition of Foreign Refugees in Berlin and Brandenburg. From 2005 to 2007 she studied Social Sciences at the Humboldt University of Berlin, followed by History and Gender Studies. She completed her studies in November 2016 with a Bachelor of Arts degree.[1]
Political career
Sommer joined the Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS) in 1997.[3] Two years later she was elected to the Berlin state parliament (Abgeordnetenhaus), where she represented the borough of Lichtenberg until 2016.[3] The PDS merged into The Left party in 2007 and Sommer served as the chairman of the local chapter of that party in Lichtenberg from 2012 to 2016. In that year, she ran for the mayor's office of the Lichtenberg borough. She renounced her candidacy after failing to win a majority in the first two ballots, lacking support from some members of her own party. There were accusations that she had falsely claimed an academic degree before completing it, which proved to be untrue.
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