Mahinur Özdemir Göktaş was born in 1982 in Brussels, Belgium. She completed her education at the Faculty of Economic, Political and Social Sciences of the Université Libre de Bruxelles, where she earned both her undergraduate and master’s degrees. Özdemir Göktaş is fluent in French, English and Dutch, and is married with two children.

Political Career

She began her political career in 2005 as Deputy Chair of the CDH Party’s Schaerbeek Organization in Belgium. In 2006, she was elected as a member of the Schaerbeek Municipal Council, and in 2009 she entered the Brussels Regional Parliament as a member of parliament. In this role, she became the first female parliamentarian in Europe to wear a headscarf. During her tenure as a parliamentarian until 2019, she served as vice chair of the Social Services Committee and the Commission for Gender Equality.

Within her parliamentary work, she actively engaged in initiatives concerning women’s employment, women’s entrepreneurship, violence against women, domestic violence, equal opportunity, the environment and urban planning. She also played an active role in combating discrimination and Islamophobia. In 2015, she was expelled from her party on the grounds that she did not recognize the Armenian genocide allegations, and continued her parliamentary duties as an independent.

Mahinur Özdemir Göktaş (Ministry of Family and Social Services of the Republic of Türkiye)

International Activities and Awards

In 2016, she organized the first inspection visit to Türkiye by the Türkiye Democracy Platform, established after the July 15 coup attempt, and led negotiations with European Union and Belgian institutions.

She contributed for two years to the European Network Against Racism’s Forgotten Women Project, supporting increased social visibility of Muslim women in Europe. She was listed in the “The Muslim 500” publication by the Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Centre in Jordan as one of the world’s most influential Muslims for three consecutive years. In 2009, she was honored with the “Pioneering and Model Woman Award” by the New Arabic Woman Forum. In 2019, she was named among Belgium’s 100 most influential women and was awarded the Order of Leopold that same year.

Diplomatic and Ministerial Appointments

In 2019, she began serving as a member of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation Commission for Women. In 2020, she was appointed as Türkiye’s Ambassador to Algeria, becoming Türkiye’s first female ambassador to North Africa.

On 5 June 2023, she was appointed by the President of the Republic of Türkiye, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, as Minister of Family and Social Services.