A member of the German Green Party since 1981 (co-chair in 2008-2018), Mr. Özdemir was elected to the German parliament in 1994. He served two legislative terms and was Speaker on Home Affairs for the Green Parliamentary Group.

From 2004 to 2009, Mr. Özdemir was a Member of the European Parliament. He was Speaker on Foreign Affairs for his political group, the Parliament’s Rapporteur for Central Asia, and Vice-President of the European Parliament's Temporary Committee on the Alleged Use of European countries by the Central Intelligence Agency for the Transport and Illegal Detention of Prisoners.

For his social engagement, the World Economic Forum named Mr. Özdemir a Global Leader of Tomorrow in 2002 while SFB-Radio recognized him as Multicultural Man of the Year in 1997. For his contribution to lessening prejudice between Germans and migrants, he was awarded the Theodor Heuss Medal and the Civis Media Prize. In 2009, the Turkish University of Tunceli awarded Mr. Özdemir an honorary doctorate for his work promoting cross-cultural understanding.