In conversation with a voter: Tuna Firat is talking about low wages and high rents.
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It is the last few hours before the election. Representatives of the CDU, SPD, Greens and FDP vie for the voters’ attention in front of the town hall center. In bright sunshine, however, these only appear sporadically on Europaplatz, take a skeptical look at the stands and mostly turn away with disinterest. Only a few seek conversation and have questions about political issues.
Dietzenbach – “There was a lot more going on in Mühlheim,” says Social Democrat Tuna Firat, who is trying to get a seat in the Bundestag. However, the day before the election is most likely no longer decisive for the result. The presence of the parties on Europlatz is more of a reminder to vote at all. In contrast, Firat admits, a real war of nerves broke out in him so shortly before the finish line. “Now I can’t do anything to convince people of me,” says the Dietzenbacher, explaining the reason for his tense nerves. The only thing that remains for him now is the certainty that he has done everything to achieve a good result.
The 40-year-old knows how to hide his nervousness. Correctly dressed in a black jacket with a white shirt and dark blue jeans and with a constantly broad smile, Firat looks like the prototype of a sovereign politician. The lawyer, the profession he has been practicing for twelve years, is also bought from him immediately.
Firat’s statement, “I am a hip-hop plant”, makes his counterpart completely unprepared. He discovered his passion for music and the corresponding lifestyle in his childhood. American officers lived in the neighborhood of his family, who at that time lived in Rödermark. “Even back then, your children were driving through the streets on skateboards,” says the son of Turkish parents. It didn’t take long until he too had the coveted “Nike Air Force 1” sports shoes. “I begged until I had a pair,” remembers Firat.
But graffiti also aroused his enthusiasm. He discovered the first one on the train that took him to school every morning. At first he just drew the lettering. Later, today’s SPD candidate then took up the spray can himself. “However, I only sprayed where it was allowed,” he emphasizes. Tuna Firat still enjoys listening to hip-hop music today. And so Azad and Kool Savas are among his favorite artists. “I can turn on a song by Azad and rap along with no problem,” he says.
The daughter-father team, which then pokes him with questions on Saturday afternoon, has no idea of this talent. While the father is interested in the role of former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder in Russia, low wages and high rents are the focus of interest for the daughter. Firat assures him that finding a solution to the latter is very important to him.
Because contrary to what some people write about him on social media, the SPDist can understand such worries despite his profession as a lawyer. “My parents were skilled workers and members of IG Metall,” says the Bundestag candidate. As a child, he drove to demos in Bonn. In his law studies, however, he was an absolute exotic from his origins.
To what extent he can actually campaign for affordable housing and fair wages in Berlin, Firat was not yet able to predict on Saturday. “I have to wait and see where exactly I will be deployed when the voters decide for me,” he makes clear.
The preliminary result on the evening of the election shows: Tuna Firat is behind Björn Simon (CDU). While the Christian Democrat won 27.83 percent of the vote, only 26.35 percent of the voters opted for Firat. “This tight result is a little difficult to digest,” he admits. After all, the district town dweller still has the chance to enter the Bundestag via the list of his party. To what extent this will happen, however, will only become apparent in the coming days. (By Anna Scholze)
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