Elif Eralp, the daughter of Turkish refugees who made the housing crisis the key to the elections in Berlin

20.09.2026 - 8:41 The elections in Berlin have spurred the formation of the left party Die Linke, which had only managed to be the most voted force in regional elections in Thuringia in 2019. This path, in the midst of the far-right Alternativ for Germany, has a name and face of a woman: Elif Eralp. With a heterodox profile, she has conducted a direct campaign and presented herself as the "antidote" to the others: "We do leftist politics for everyone, not just for leftists." Born in Munich in 1981, her political history began even before she was born. A few months before her parents – socialists and trade unionists – fled Turkey due to the military coup of 1980 and the repression that followed. The Eralp family arrived in Germany when her mother was eight months pregnant. Elif was born when her parents were still processing the asylum application. The early years of the family in Munich were complicated. All three lived in a single room, and during the asylum procedure, her parents had many difficulties working. The father was a doctor and, after learning German, ended up working in a hospital in Dortmund. In turn, the mother, trained as a nursing teacher, took fifteen years to validate her titles. She was forced to do cleaning jobs and was trained in social pedagogy. The Eralp home, despite the hardships, never lost its politicized atmosphere and social concerns. There were often constant visits from other workers of Turkish origin, who demanded better working conditions, but also refugees for political reasons. In fact, Elif often mentions attacks against Turkish families as one of her first political memories, such as the Solingen fire – caused by a group of Nazis – in 1993, in which five people died. When Elif was eight years old, the family moved to Hamburg, where she studied law, with a specialization in criminology. During the legal practice period, she went through the High Commission of the United Nations for Refugees and a law firm specializing in asylum and foreign law. In 2010, she began working as the legal policy advisor for the Die Linke group at the Bundestag. She was also a member of the company committee and the negotiating commission of the Verdi union. In 2017, with the entry of Alternativa for Germany into the Bundestag, she decided to enter politics and join Die Linke. In 2021, she was elected as a deputy to the Berlin chamber for the first time, which she achieved again in 2023. From May 2025, she is the party's vice-president in the city. During the campaign, her star theme has been the housing problem. In this regard, she has emphasized that the increase in rents and the eviction of neighbors from neighborhoods is the main social issue in Berlin. Among the measures she has defended are more social housing, more rent regulation, the persecution of illegally high rents, and the creation of a specific body to defend tenants. She also wants to bring about the socialization of large housing packages owned by real estate companies, in accordance with the 2021 referendum on the Deutsche Wohnen & Co enteignen initiative. The issue is not new in her trajectory. Before reaching the political front, she was already involved in Kreuzberg in platforms against gentrification and rent increases. Her electoral office offers free legal advice to tenants, and Die Linke has turned this form of direct attention – neighborhood meetings, social consultations, and door-to-door campaigns – into a prominent part of its campaign. "We have some radical proposals because, in terms of housing, radical responses are needed," she told the media, although she also acknowledged that reversing the housing situation is not an immediate process and will take time. Another major axis of her campaign – with a lot of impact on networks – has been education. She has defended the extension of Gemeinschaftsschulen, centers where students study together from primary school until the end of secondary school, with the declared desire to reduce the burden of social origin on educational results. She also demands more resources for public centers and more investment in school buildings. Eralp has also focused her discourse on immigration and the fight against racism. Thus, she has defined Berlin as a "solidary city" and has demanded more political participation for residents of foreign origin. In fact, she has shown support for extending the right to vote to citizens from outside the European Union. She has also proposed facilitating the learning of German and accelerating the recognition of foreign qualifications, a problem often linked to her mother's experience.