Quick Facts
Biography
Omid Nouripour (Persian: امید نوری پور; born June 18, 1975) is a German politician of the Alliance '90/The Greens who currently serves as a member of the Bundestag, representing the state of Hesse. He is his party's spokesman on foreign affairs, and is a member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs and a deputy member of the Defence Committee. He is a member of the board of trustees of the pro-American Atlantik-Brücke organisation, a member of the pro-EU Europa-Union Deutschland caucus in the Bundestag, and a member of the board of trustees of the pro-NATO German Atlantic Association. He is of Iranian background and moved to Germany as a child.
Early life and education
Nouripour was born in Tehran. In 1988, aged 13, Nouripour immigrated to Frankfurt, West Germany, with his family. He has studied German, political science, law, sociology, philosophy and economics at the University of Mainz, but did not earn a degree. In 2002, he became a German citizen. Because Iran does not allow its citizens to relinquish their citizenship, he is considered an Iranian citizen by Iran as well.
He is native in Persian and fluent in German and English.
Political career
Nouripour was elected to the German Federal Parliament in 2006 as the first Member of Parliament of Iranian descent, taking the vacated seat of former Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer.
Between 2006 and 2013, Nouripour was a member of the Defence Committee as well as of the Budget Committee, where he served as his parliamentary group's rapporteur on the budgets of the Federal Foreign Office (AA), the Federal Ministry of the Interior (BMI), the Federal Ministry of Health (BMG), the Federal Court of Auditors (BRH) and the Office of the Federal President.
Since 2014, Nouripour has been a member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the Committee on Human Rights and Humanitarian Aid. In addition, he serves as deputy chairman of the German-US Parliamentary Friendship Group and the German-Indian Parliamentary Friendship Group. He has written widely on migration and is the speaker of the Green Party for migratory affairs and refugees.
In July 2015, Nouripour joined Germany’s Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier on a trip to Cuba; it was the first time a German foreign minister had visited the country since German reunification in 1990.
Political positions
Military procurement
In 2011, Nouripour accused aerospace company EADS of strong-arming European governments into agreeing to provide the Airbus A400M Atlas funding by falsely suggesting the Franco-German-led company could collapse.
Relations with the Middle East and the Arab world
Speaking on the 2012 Bahraini uprising, Nouripour commented that “[a]s the kingdom of Saudi Arabia is supporting the state-repression inside Bahrain, Iran acts as the protector of the Shia.”
In a study sent to German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle in May 2012, Nouripour and Hans-Josef Fell proposed that Germany should help Iran expand renewable energy sources to solve the conflict over the nation’s nuclear program and prevent a war in the region.
When Turkey formally asked NATO in November 2012 to set up missiles on its border with Syria due to growing concern about spillover from the civil war in its neighbour, Nouripour warned against Germany and NATO "letting themselves be drawn into the Syria conflict with no basis in international law." However, he later voted for posting two German Patriot missile batteries to help bolster security along Turkey's border with Syria in the context of NATO-backed Operation Active Fence in 2015.
Nouripour for years opposed listing Lebanese militant group Hezbollah as a terrorist organization. However, following the 2012 Burgas bus bombing, he stated that “it’s now time to isolate Hezbollah.”
In May 2014 and February 2016, Nouripour visited the Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan to learn more about the plight of Syrians fleeing the violence in the ongoing Syrian civil war that erupted in 2011.
Relations with the African continent
Nouripour has in the past voted in favor of German participation in United Nations peacekeeping missions as well as in United Nations-mandated European Union peacekeeping missions on the African continent, such as in Darfur/Sudan (2010, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2015 and 2016), South Sudan (2011, 2012, 2014, 2015 and 2016), Mali (2013, 2014 and 2015), the Central African Republic (2014) and Liberia (2015).
On Somalia, Nouripour has a mixed voting record. He initially supported Operation Atalanta (2009, 2010, 2011) but has since regularly abstained from votes on extending the mandate for the mission (2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015). He also voted against German participation in EUTM Somalia (2014 and 2016) or abstained (2015). Following 2010 reports that German-based company Asgaard had signed a deal with a Somali warlord to provide security services, Nouripour accused the German government of not doing enough in the past to regulate private security firms.
Other activities
- Atlantik-Brücke, Member of the Board
- Center for International Peace Operations (ZIF), Member of the Supervisory Board (2009-2013)
- Das Progressive Zentrum, Member of the Circle of Friends
- German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP), Member of the Council
- World Vision Deutschland, Member of the Board of Trustees