Omid Nouripour – Democracy and Freedom of speech
“Freedom of speech is what people all over the world are still dying for today.” – Why Omid Nouripour does not explain democracy, but embodies it
There are politicians who talk about freedom. And there are those who know the price of not having it.
Omid Nouripour was 13 years old when his family left Iran. Not as tourists. Not as adventurers. Because of the First Gulf War, he would no longer have been allowed to leave the country once he turned 14. One uncle had been executed; another had been injured by poison gas. The family moved to Frankfurt am Main – to a city, a language and a world that were alien to them. And into a freedom that the boy would never take for granted.
Today, Omid Nouripour is Vice-President of the German Bundestag. And one of the most fascinating interlocutors German politics has to offer.
An office that belonged to Joschka Fischer – and an appointment that was almost impossible
One Monday in September 2006, he entered his new office in the Bundestag for the first time. Former Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer had previously worked there. Nouripour took his place via the Hessian regional list. A moment that could scarcely be more symbolically charged: the immigrant boy from Tehran taking the place of the great German Foreign Minister.
Yet this moment almost did not happen. It was only with the new citizenship law in 2002 that he was able to obtain a German passport. Had the law been different, he would not be in this office today.
This is no footnote. It is the very essence of what Omid Nouripour brings to every platform: the realisation that democracy, participation and freedom cannot be taken for granted. That they must be fought for, defended and lived out anew every day.
Foreign policy that gets under your skin
From 2013 to 2021, Omid Nouripour was foreign policy spokesperson for the Green Party parliamentary group, subsequently serving as chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee and chair of the German-Ukrainian Parliamentary Group. From 2022 to 2024, he co-led the party as federal chair alongside Ricarda Lang.
These are impressive achievements. But what sets Nouripour apart from other foreign policy experts is not his CV. It is the fact that he speaks from personal experience about the very issues that others analyse.
When he talks about Iran, he speaks as someone whose family has experienced the regime first-hand. When he talks about flight, he does so not as a political concept, but as a lived reality. When he talks about Ukraine and the value of European security, he knows from his own experience what it means to live in a country where war is not an abstract concept.
And when he speaks of democracy – he does so with a passion that really hits home: “Freedom of speech is what people all over the world are still dying for today. Even in our own country, we have a tendency to think that our freedoms have fallen from the sky or are here to stay – but they are not.” You cannot simply Google a statement like that. You have to have lived through it.
Straight talk, precision – and a dry sense of humour that takes you by surprise
Anyone who sees Omid Nouripour in plenary sessions or in interviews expects to see a serious foreign policy expert – and that is exactly what they get. But they also get something extra: quick wit, self-deprecating humour and the ability to get to the heart of complex issues.
As Vice-President of the Bundestag, he recently commented on the lively debates in the plenary chamber with a smile: “I sometimes find myself thinking, when it gets noisy: ‘That’s divine retribution – I used to be just like that!’” – before adding earnestly: “Democracy thrives on debate – the expression of the struggle to find the right solution.”
That sums up Nouripour in a single sentence: he takes the matter seriously. Himself, not always. And that is precisely what makes him so effective on stage.
What he brings to the table that no briefing can replace
“It is no longer enough today to be against the right wing in the quiet of one’s own room, or to be a quiet advocate for democracy. What we need now is a vocal majority that stands up for the rule of law and democracy and against their enemies.” – Omid Nouripour
This is not campaign rhetoric. It is the conviction of a man who knows what happens when that majority is lacking.
For panels, talks and keynote speeches, Omid Nouripour brings a rare combination: nearly two decades of parliamentary experience, foreign policy expertise at the highest level – in security, European and migration policy – and a personal background that lends genuine substance to everything he discusses.
He doesn’t explain why democracy is important. He demonstrates it – through who he is and through what he says.
Who is Omid Nouripour the right person to speak to?
His strengths come to the fore wherever events seek depth rather than superficiality. For companies that want to understand how geopolitical developments affect their business. For conferences seeking a voice that makes foreign policy human and tangible. For panels on democracy, diversity, Europe and international security – with a speaker who not only advocates certain positions but lives by them.
In Persian, ‘Omid’ means ‘hope’. Anyone who sees him on stage understands why this name suits him so well.
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