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Songül Mutluer

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Songül Mutluer
Member of the House of Representatives
Incumbent
Assumed office
17 February 2022
Preceded byGijs van Dijk
Alderwoman in Zaanstad
In office
14 June 2018[1] – 16 February 2022[2]
Member of the Zaanstad municipal council
In office
16 March 2006[3] – 14 June 2018
Succeeded byGeert Rijken[1]
Personal details
Born
Songül Mutluer

(1979-12-11) 11 December 1979 (age 45)
Enschede, Netherlands
Political partyLabour Party
Alma materUniversity of Amsterdam

Songül Mutluer (born 11 December 1979)[4] is a Dutch politician, serving as a member of the House of Representatives since 2022. She is a member of the Labour Party (PvdA) and has served as a Zaanstad municipal council member and alderwoman for fifteen years before. Having studied law, Mutluer has also worked as a legal professional and taught law at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam.

Early life and non-political career

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She was born in 1979 in the Overijssel city Enschede, where her parents, Turkish migrant workers, were employed in the textile industry.[5][6] She has a brother and five sisters.[7] At age three, Mutluer moved with her mother to Turkey, where she resided in the cities Mersin and Adana.[5][8] Mutluer returned to the Netherlands in 1988 with her mother.[5] There, she lived in the Zaandam neighborhood Poelenburg and attended the high school Zaanlands Lyceum at gymnasium level in the years 1992–98.[5][6][9]

Mutluer subsequently studied law at the University of Amsterdam, obtaining a Master of Laws degree. During her study, when she was just over twenty years old, she returned to Turkey to intern at an Ankara law firm for four months. After graduating in 2004, Mutluer started teaching law at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and received a grant to research invitations to tender.[5][9] From 2015 to 2017, she served as a guest lecturer at University College Utrecht. Next to her teaching career, she became a legal professional specialized in invitations to tender and contracts, working for Corvers Procurement Services (2016–17) and for the governmental organization Rijkswaterstaat (2017–18).[9][10][11]

Politics

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Zaanstad

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Mutluer became a member of the municipal council of Zaanstad after she was elected in the 2006 election as the Labour Party's fifth candidate in the municipality.[5] Mutluer was re-elected in March 2010, being placed second on the party list. She became her party's caucus leader in the municipal council in December 2010.[12] She again appeared second on the Labour Party's list in the 2014 municipal election.[13] Besides, Mutluer became a member of an advisory committee that selected the Labour Party's candidates for the 2017 general election.[14] She stepped down as caucus leader for a half year starting in the spring of 2016 in order to write her dissertation.[15][16]

Mutluer was re-elected once again in March 2018 as her party's lead candidate.[17] She vacated her seat in the municipal council in June to serve as alderwoman of housing, youth care services, poverty, and elderly policy in the new municipal executive.[18][19] She also became a board member of the Association of Netherlands Municipalities (VNG) in late 2019.[20] Zaanstad received €20.5 million from the national government during her term to invest in the quick construction of new houses and another €43 million to spend on vulnerable neighborhoods in the eastern part of the city, more than any other municipality.[21] Mutluer told that she wanted to use the latter funds to increase the sustainability of 850 houses, to improve public spaces and amenities, and to combat housing fraud.[22] Halfway through 2020, a number of youth care service centers stopped admitting new children, as the region Zaanstreek-Waterland had run out of its budget for that year. The regional audit office concluded that the costs Zaanstad was making had gotten out of hand in the preceding years and that the municipality did not have reliable data about its system.[23] Mutluer called on the national government to provide more funds to municipalities for youth care services.[24]

National

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She was the Labour Party's tenth candidate in the March 2021 general election and received 4,896 preference votes. Mutluer was not elected, as her party won nine seats in the House of Representatives.[11][25] She had previously been one of the lijstduwers during the 2012 general election in the Den Helder electoral district (place 77).[26][27] Mutluer was eventually appointed to the House of Representatives on 17 February 2022 following the resignation of Gijs van Dijk due to inappropriate behavior, and she simultaneously stepped down as alderwoman and board member of the VNG.[2][28] She served as her party's spokesperson for security, justice, neighborhoods, discrimination, racism, and emancipation.[29] She had been pursuing a second term as alderwoman before her appointment to the House.[30]

A motion by Mutluer was carried stating that insured inhabitants of Limburg and North Brabant with damage from the 2021 European floods should receive compensation from the government. A number of victims had received payments from their insurance company insufficient to repair all the damage and had because of that not qualified for government compensation.[31][32] In 2023, Mutluer and Anne Kuik (CDA) introduced a bill to prohibit publishing videos of violent crime, following a number of filmed assaults that had gone viral online. The offense would carry a maximum fine of €9,000 or a one-year prison sentence, and the bill contained an exclusion for footage published in the public interest. Mutluer said these videos infringe on the human dignity of crime victims.[33] Following a motion by Mutluer, the fourth Rutte cabinet presented an action plan against femicide in June 2024.[34]

Mutluer was re-elected on the shared GroenLinks–PvdA list in November 2023, and her specialties changed to safety, law, police labor, emancipation, and femicide.[35] In an interview, she challenged the notion that femicide is only an issue in some communities. She called the cabinet's action plan inadequate, and she presented a policy memorandum, proposing €30 million in yearly funding for awareness campaigns and for increased capacity for and cooperation between government agencies.[34] €10 million in yearly funding was eventually added to the 2025 budget because of an amendment by Mutluer.[36] The House adopted a motion by Mutluer to establish a reintegration and support program for money mules, to prevent them from becoming professional criminals.[37]

Personal life

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Mutluer is a resident of the North Holland city of Zaandam.[38]

Electoral history

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Electoral history of Songül Mutluer
Year Body Party Pos. Votes Result Ref.
Party seats Individual
2021 House of Representatives Labour Party 10 4,896 9 Lost[a] [39]
2023 House of Representatives GroenLinks–PvdA 10 8,711 25 Won [40]

Notes

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  1. ^ Mutluer was appointed to the body later during the term due to a vacancy.

References

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  1. ^ a b "Transcript van de raadsvergadering van gemeente Zaanstad" [Transcript of the council meeting of Zaanstad municipality]. ZNSTD (in Dutch). 14 June 2018. Retrieved 7 March 2021.
  2. ^ a b "Tijdelijke portefeuilleverdeling college van burgemeester en wethouders" [Temporary division of roles of municipal executive]. ZNSTD (Press release) (in Dutch). Retrieved 25 March 2022.
  3. ^ "Agenda van de Gemeenteraad van 16 maart 2006" [Order of business of the municipal council for 16 March 2006]. ZNSTD (in Dutch). 16 March 2006. p. 4. Retrieved 6 March 2021.
  4. ^ Dit is wethouder Songul Mutluer [This is alderwoman Songül Mutluer] (in Dutch). GemZaanstad. 20 July 2018. Retrieved 10 March 2021 – via YouTube.
  5. ^ a b c d e f "Verlangen naar Turkije verdwijnt nooit" [Desire for Turkey will never end]. Noordhollands Dagblad (in Dutch). 26 August 2008.
  6. ^ a b Mutluer, Songül (22 May 2020). "Wethouder Songül Mutluer wil armoedepatronen doorbreken" [Alderwoman Songül Mutluer wants to end patterns of poverty]. Noordhollands Dagblad (Interview) (in Dutch). Interviewed by Virginia Groenendijk. Retrieved 7 March 2021.
  7. ^ Possel, Petra; Mutluer, Songül (15 July 2016). "Turkse Songül Mutluer" [Turkish Songül Mutluer]. Smakelijke verhalen!. Episode 5 (in Dutch). NPO 2.
  8. ^ Mutluer, Songül (2020). "Deel I Songül Mutluer: Een gedreven politica" [Part I Songül Mutluer: A passionate politician]. Zaans Museum (Interview) (in Dutch). Interviewed by Piet van Berge. Retrieved 10 March 2021.
  9. ^ a b c "Biografie, onderwijs en loopbaan van Songül Mutluer" [Biography, education, and career of Songül Mutluer]. Tweede Kamer der Staten-Generaal (in Dutch). Retrieved 26 March 2022.
  10. ^ "Mutluer wil PvdA-kar trekken" [Mutluer wants to lead Labour Party]. Noordhollands Dagblad (in Dutch). 16 September 2017. p. 6.
  11. ^ a b "Songül Mutluer". PvdA (in Dutch). Retrieved 10 March 2021.
  12. ^ "Mutluer per direct hoofd van PvdA-fractie" [Mutluer immediately leader of Labour Party caucus]. Noordhollands Dagblad (in Dutch). 8 December 2010.
  13. ^ "Olthof voorman PvdA Zaanstad" [Olthof leader Zaanstad Labour Party]. Noordhollands Dagblad (in Dutch). 16 December 2013.
  14. ^ "Mutluer selecteert Kamerleden" [Mutluer selects House members]. Noordhollands Dagblad (in Dutch). 21 May 2015.
  15. ^ "Tijdelijke wissel fractievoorzitter PvdA" [Substitute caucus leader Labour Party]. Noordhollands Dagblad (in Dutch). 20 April 2016.
  16. ^ "Raadslid wordt wijkmanager" [Councilor becomes neighborhood manager]. Noordhollands Dagblad (in Dutch). 27 February 2017. Retrieved 7 March 2021.
  17. ^ Swart, Rob (6 November 2017). "Nog maar een paar lijsttrekkers te gaan" [Only a few lead candidates to go]. Noordhollands Dagblad (in Dutch). p. 1.
  18. ^ "Hans Krieger wethouder in Zaanstad" [Hans Krieger alderman in Zaanstad]. Noordhollands Dagblad (in Dutch). 11 June 2018. Retrieved 7 March 2021.
  19. ^ "Wethouder Songül Mutluer (PvdA)" [Alderwoman Songül Mutluer (Labour Party)]. ZNSTD (in Dutch). Retrieved 10 March 2021.
  20. ^ "Lopende zaken" [Current affairs]. VNG Magazine (in Dutch). No. 20. 20 December 2019. Retrieved 10 March 2021.
  21. ^ Claus, Sybilla (19 September 2020). "Met de miljoenen van het Rijk zet Zaanstad 6000 woningen neer" [Zaanstad will build 6000 houses with millions from the national government]. Trouw (in Dutch). Retrieved 7 March 2021.
  22. ^ De Groot, Thyra (15 July 2021). "Zaanstad krijgt 43 miljoen euro voor 'kwetsbare wijken'" [Zaanstad receives 43 million euros for 'vulnerable neighborhoods'] (in Dutch). Retrieved 7 October 2021.
  23. ^ Appels, Daan; Groenendijk, Virginia (3 October 2020). "Stuurloze jeugdzorg in Zaanstad nekt kinderen, spekt zorgondernemers" [Out-of-control youth care services hurts children, lines pockets of health care entrepreneurs]. Follow the Money (in Dutch). Retrieved 7 March 2021.
  24. ^ Appels, Daan (22 February 2021). "Jeugdzorgtekorten van gemeenten: een miljardenschip in de mist" [Youth care service deficits of municipalities: a ship costing billions in the fog]. Follow the Money (in Dutch). Retrieved 7 March 2021.
  25. ^ "Tweede Kamer 17 maart 2021" [House of Representatives 17 March 2021]. Databank Verkiezingsuitslagen (in Dutch). Kiesraad. Retrieved 7 October 2021.
  26. ^ "Kansloos voor Tweede Kamer" [No chance of getting in the House of Representatives]. Noordhollands Dagblad (in Dutch). 11 September 2012.
  27. ^ "Barbara Visser haalt meeste stemmen" [Barbara Visser receives most votes]. Noordhollands Dagblad (in Dutch). 19 September 2012.
  28. ^ De Groot, Thyra (16 February 2022). "Songül Mutluer tóch naar de Tweede Kamer: 'Zaanse roots neem ik mee'" [Songül Mutluer to the House of Representatives after all: 'I'll bring my Zaandam heritage']. NH Nieuws (in Dutch). Retrieved 25 March 2022.
  29. ^ "Tweede Kamer" [House of Representatives]. PvdA (in Dutch). Retrieved 26 November 2023.
  30. ^ "Songül Mutluer 'lijstduwer' en wethouderskandidaat PvdA Zaanstad" [Songül Mutluer lijstduwer and candidate for alderwoman of Zaanstad Labour Party]. De Orkaan (in Dutch). 28 October 2021. Retrieved 26 March 2022.
  31. ^ Goossen, Hans (14 April 2022). "Rijk moet ook verzekerde slachtoffers watersnood te hulp schieten, vinden de Kamerfracties van PvdA, CDA en SP" [State should also aid insured victims of floods according to PvdA, CDA, and SP parliamentary groups]. De Limburger (in Dutch). Retrieved 1 June 2022.
  32. ^ Goossen, Hans (19 April 2022). "Meerderheid Tweede Kamer wil verruiming van steunregeling voor slachtoffers watersnood" [House of Representatives majority wants to broaden aid for flood victims]. De Limburger (in Dutch). Retrieved 1 June 2022.
  33. ^ Quekel, Sebastiaan (22 June 2023). "Influencers mogelijk cel in na delen heftige filmpjes: 'Er moet iets gebeuren, we zijn er klaar mee'" [Influencers might go to jail after sharing violent videos: 'Something has got to happen, we are fed up']. Algemeen Dagblad (in Dutch). Retrieved 10 July 2023.
  34. ^ a b Van Buuren, Yara (20 November 2024). "Kamerlid Songül Mutluer: 'Manfluencers verzieken jongens met hun ideeën over vrouwen. Dat maakt het risico op geweld groot'" [MP Songül Mutluer: 'Manfluencers ruin boys with their ideas about women. That results in a major risk for violence']. Trouw (in Dutch). Retrieved 24 November 2024.
  35. ^ "Portefeuilles Tweede Kamer" [House of Representatives portfolios]. GroenLinks–PvdA (in Dutch). Retrieved 31 March 2024.
  36. ^ "Kamer regelt 10 miljoen euro extra voor bestrijding femicide" [House adds €10 million to the budget for combatting femicide]. RTL Nieuws (in Dutch). 12 December 2024. Retrieved 15 December 2024.
  37. ^ "Tweede Kamer wil inkeerregeling voor geldezels" [House of Representatives wants disclosure scheme for money mules]. RTL Nieuws (in Dutch). 10 December 2024. Retrieved 10 December 2024.
  38. ^ "Songül Mutluer". Tweede Kamer der Staten-Generaal. 17 February 2022. Retrieved 26 March 2022.
  39. ^ "Proces-verbaal verkiezingsuitslag Tweede Kamer 2021" [Report of the election results House of Representatives 2021] (PDF). Dutch Electoral Council (in Dutch). 29 March 2021. pp. 111–130, 232. Retrieved 21 December 2023.
  40. ^ "Proces-verbaal van de uitslag van de verkiezing van de Tweede Kamer der Staten-Generaal 2023 d.d. 4 december 2023" [Report of the results of the election of the House of Representatives on 4 December 2023] (PDF). Dutch Electoral Council (in Dutch). 4 December 2023. pp. 23–31, 199. Retrieved 21 December 2023.
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