Berîvan Aymaz: Cologne's green hope for a sustainable future!

Berîvan Aymaz: Cologne's green hope for a sustainable future!

An exciting political future is emerging in Cologne: Berîvan Aymaz, the Green Party's candidate for mayor, clearly asserted herself in the first round of elections on September 14, 2025 and is now running in the runoff against Torsten Burmester from the SPD, which will take place on September 28, 2025. The 53-year-old Aymaz, currently Vice President of the North Rhine-Westphalia State Parliament, established herself in the political landscape early on and brings a wealth of experience that she would like to bring to the city administration.

Berîvan Aymaz was born on July 5, 1972 in Bingöl Province, Turkey. When she was just six years old, she emigrated to Germany with her family and settled first in Bonn, then in Paderborn and finally in Cologne in 1980. There she grew up in a multicultural environment, especially in the Brück and Kalk districts. After graduating from the Kaiserin Theophanu School in 1990, she began studying law in Cologne and political science in Duisburg-Essen, which she did not complete. During her studies she worked successfully as a translator and presenter.

Political career

Her political involvement began in 1993 with the founding of the Kurdish Community of Germany e.V., where she served as general secretary until 2003. In 2009, she joined the Greens and played a central role in founding the state working group “Secular Greens NRW” in 2012. Her political career took her to the Cologne city council from 2014 to 2017, followed by an entry into the NRW state parliament, where she won the direct mandate for Cologne VI in 2022 and was elected vice president. In this position, she has already achieved a lot for the people of Cologne and continues to advocate for important issues.

Aymaz's political focus is on integration, refugee and European policy. It has set itself the goal of making Cologne climate-neutral by 2035 and promoting its development into a “bicycle capital”. It also plans to plant 2,000 new trees every year and increase the number of safe cycle paths. In her election program, she also emphasizes the need for a social land policy to combat the housing shortage in Cologne and wants to increase the quota for subsidized housing to 50 percent.

A look into the future

The Cologne Greens suffered a setback in the city council election in September 2025, losing 3.5 percent, which brought them to 25 percent of the vote. Nevertheless, Aymaz emerged first in the first round of voting. Her clear focus on social justice and sustainable urban development is well received, and she has a lot of popular support. Aymaz has lived in Brück since 2009, is single and attaches great importance to her close relationship with her family.

On January 11, 2025, she was nominated as mayor candidate by the Cologne Greens with an impressive result of 91.2 percent. The election campaign is entering the decisive phase, and voters are excited to see how Aymaz's vision for Cologne will continue to unfold. A strong Cologne team and a clear plan for the future could be the key to a successful term.

For more information about her career and political goals, visit her official website: berivan-aymaz.de or also read what 24rhein.de reported. The coming weeks promise to be exciting for the Cologne electorate!