Mahmut Özdemir

The "Flame of Hope" was lit on Wednesday and presented to officials and athletes of the Special Olympics World Games Berlin 2023 in two separate special events, one at Zappeion Hall and another in the grounds of the German School of Athens.

Cem Özdemir, Germany's new food and agriculture minister of Turkish origin, visited the presidential palace to receive his certificate of appointment on a bicycle, while other ministers arrived in black cars.

Özdemir, from the Green Party, is the first Turkish descent politician to assume a federal minister post.

Eighteen candidates of Turkish descent have been elected as lawmakers in Germany's federal parliament, Bundestag, in the country's elections that took place on Sept. 26.

The Social Democratic Party (SPD) won the most parliamentary seats in the national elections, while Angela Merkel's conservative CDU/CSU bloc came in second, preliminary official results showed on Sept. 27.

Fourteen Turkish-origin German citizens were elected to Germany's Bundestag in the Sept. 24 general elections.

According to the temporary initial results, Aydan Özoğuz, Metin Hakverdi, Mahmut Özdemir, Cansel Kızıltepe, Gülistan Yüksel and Elvan Korkmaz were elected on the ranks of the Social Democrats (SPD).