The Muslim with Kurdish-Turkish-Arabic roots is Lieutenant in the Air Force.
Dusseldorf As a little girl, Hülya Süzen wanted to become a knight, because the “princess always had to be saved,” she says. Later she wanted to join the army – an unusual wish for a Muslim with Kurdish-Turkish-Arabic roots.
Her father was asked by the extended family whether he was still in his right mind to “let his daughter into an army of men,” says Süzen in the new podcast episode of Handelsblatt Rethink Work. On top of that, in a troop that bears the cross as a symbol.
Her father replied with a Kurdish saying: “A lion is a lion, whether male or female,” he said. “And my daughter is a lion, she does it.”
When Süzen joined the Bundeswehr in 2004, she was one of the first women with a migration background to join the force. She trained as a paramedic, was in Kosovo, advised superiors on how to deal with soldiers of other religions, got her high school diploma, studied while on duty and graduated in several subjects.
And since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, she has found that people treat her differently when she is out and about in uniform. “Friendlier and with genuine interest. You also say thank you,” says Süzen. “I have not experienced that in 19 years of service.”
Today, the 40-year-old is a lieutenant in the Air Force and deputy chairwoman of the Air Force in the German Bundeswehr Association. She is now where she always wanted to be.
But there were also many strokes of fate in her life: a catastrophic divorce, a brain hemorrhage, the end as a professional boxer. But she knows: “Being on the ground means that there is only one way left: up.”
More: Listen to the previous episode of Rethink Work here