Who Is Dilan Yeşilgöz? Potential First Female PM Of Netherlands

The Netherlands is to have a level-pegging election today, as three parties have emerged as strong contenders. According to reports, Dilan Yeşilgöz, who is presently the country's justice and security minister, seems to be ahead of the race. Yeşilgöz is likely to become the first female Prime Minister of the Dutch nation. The VVD party (also called the Leader of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy in English) leader will succeed Mark Rutte, who has been in office for 13 years, to become the next leader. Yeşilgöz is in a head-to-head race with Geert Wilders and Frans Timmermans.

Dilan Yeşilgöz was born in Ankara, Turkey. Her Turkish mother, Fatma Özgümüş is the director of the Netherlands Refugee Organization (VON). Her Kurdish father, Yücel Yeşilgöz is a left-wing trade unionist. Her family escaped and took refuge in the Netherlands when she was seven years old.

Yeşilgöz attended Vallei College in Amersfoort and then pursued a Master's in Culture, Organization and Management from Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam in 2003. She got married to René Zegerius in 2014. 

Who is Dilan Yeşilgöz?

Yeşilgöz first joined politics as a board member of the Amersfoort Socialist Party. She joined the VVD party in 2014 and held a seat in the municipal council of Amsterdam from 2014 to 2017. As a councillor, her most noteworthy work was proposals to criminalise street harassment of women and LGBTQ+ persons. 

In the 2017 general elections in the Netherlands, Yeşilgöz was elected to the House of Representatives where she initially served as her party's spokesperson for justice and security, but also advocated for climate and energy policies. She announced her candidacy to become the next Prime Minister in July when Mark Rutte resigned after 13 years as the nation's leader.

Prime Ministerial Candidate

Yeşilgöz's political motto as a candidate is the long-pending Dutch promise of controlling immigration levels and tackling the high cost of living in the nation. The 46-year-old told POLITICO that her experience as a refugee has been a crucial factor in her view on migration.

“There’s an influx of too many people, not only asylum seekers but also migrant workers and international students, which means that we don’t have the capacity to help real refugees,” Yeşilgöz told POLITICO.

She said that tackling the poor quality of reception facilities for asylum seekers, and housing shortages are her top priority.

As the current justice minister has been described as a tough negotiator and a strong communicator, who only does three things besides work: sleep, exercise and eating healthily. According to POLITICO, Yeşilgöz is heavily protected by a personal security detail everywhere she goes due to her position as a justice minister. 

“It is a big part of my life and that is very tough. But I choose to keep going, to not quit, because I will not be intimidated,” she said. 

The political tension ahead of the elections has festered a violent environment in the nation, with some ministers even resigning out of safety concerns. 

Yeşilgöz has expressed her confidence in winning the elections in several interviews. "As a small country, we can play a big role. We have always done that, and it’s incredibly important that we will keep doing that," she said, about the role of the Netherlands in the EU, under the VVD party's rule. Playing strict and playing fair will be the main pillars that underpin her approach to the EU, Yeşilgöz told POLITICO.