Quick Facts
Biography
Zuhal Demir (born 2 March 1980 in Genk) is a Belgian lawyer and politician affiliated to the N-VA. Demir was elected as a member of the Belgian Chamber of Representatives in 2010.
She is the daughter of Alevi Kurdish parents from Turkey and lives in Antwerp. She studied Law at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in 1998–2003, and went on in 2003–2004 with a Master in Social Law at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel. Since 2004, she works as a lawyer for an international law firm.
From January 2013 until the end of 2015, she was the mayor of the district of Antwerp. In early 2016, she moved to Genk.
In February 2017, she succeeded Elke Sleurs as Secretary of State for Poverty Reduction, Equal Opportunities, People with Disabilities, Urban Policy and Scientific Policy.