TWO WEEKS after Barack Obama's election, Germany's Greens ensured a minor sensation at the weekend by electing the first ethnic Turk as leader of a political party, writes Derek Scallyin Berlin.
The 42 year-old Cem Özdemir straddles the party's pragmatic "realist" and fundamentalist left wings and will work in tandem with left-wing party veteran Claudia Roth.
At a weekend conference in the eastern city of Erfurt, Mr Özdemir made it clear he was anxious to see the party return to power after next year's general election.
"We already have seven years' experience behind us," he said, reminding delegates of projects realised by the Greens, including the wind down of nuclear energy.
"I want to fight for a society in which all are brought along, whether they come from Kazakhstan, Anatolia or whether they fought against the Romans in the Teutoburger Forest" - a cornerstone of Germanic mythology.
Minutes after his election, party helpers distributed badges featuring Mr Özdemir and the phrase "Yes we Cem", a nod to Mr Obama's election slogan.
Mr Özdemir's election, admittedly to the party most open to women and ethnic minorities, is still a landmark for the 2.7 million ethnic Turks living in Germany, the country's largest minority, which represents about 3.3 per cent of the population.
But political analysts are undecided about its significance for the Greens, after three decades of evolution from environmental protest party to mainstream coalition partner with the Social Democrats (SPD).
The well known Mr Özdemir, who was born in southern Germany to Turkish immigrant parents, served as an MP from 1994 until he was tripped up by two minor scandals and forced to resign in 2002. He moved to the European Parliament where, as an MEP, he pushed for Turkey's accession, while criticising human rights abuses in the country.
His election is the usual compromise between the Green Party's left-wing or "fundamentalist" wing and the more centralist "realist" wing. The "realos" were highly influential during the coalition years with the SPD and, led by foreign minister Joschka Fischer, ensured the party supported the first foreign deployment of German troops since the second World War.
Mr Özdemir does not hold a Bundestag seat and is viewed by many as a media-friendly, light-weight candidate.
In next year's general election campaign, he is likely to be eclipsed by Jürgen Trittin, a former environment minister and considered the most senior and influential figure in the party since Joschka Fischer's departure from politics.