Farid Azarkan

• Moroccan
• Dutch

Farid Azarkan
Azarkan in 2017
Leader of Denk
In office 26 September 2020 –3 August 2023
Political party	Denk
Residence	Culemborg
Alma mater	Christelijke Hogeschool Nederland  [ nl ] (BBA) Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (Drs.) University of Greenwich / Saxion (MSc)

Farid Azarkan (born 16 October 1971) is a Dutch former politician of Morrocan descent who led the political party Denk between 2020 and 2023. ^{[1] [2] [3]} Additionally, he has been a member of the House of Representatives since 23 March 2017. Azarkan previously held the position of parliamentary leader between 21 March 2020 and 3 August 2023. Azarkan was the lijsttrekker for Denk in the 2021 general election. For eight years, he chaired the Moroccan Dutch Cooperation Association (SMN) ^[4]

Biography

Azarkan was born in Morocco and came to the Netherlands at the age of eight as part of family reunification. After leaving secondary school, he attended the Hotelschool The Hague before taking night classes in politics and communication studies at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and later finishing a master's degree in real estate and a doctorate in strategy development from Greenwich University in the United Kingdom. He briefly worked as a civil servant before founding a property consultation business. ^[5]

In 2016, Azarkan joined DENK which had been founded by former Dutch Labour Party MPs Tunahan Kuzu and Selçuk Öztürk. He stood on the party's list for the 2017 Dutch general election and was elected to parliament. He sat on the committees for housing and the civil service, security and justice, infrastructure and the environment, and finance. Azarkan replaced Kuzu as leader of Denk's parliamentary group from 24 April 2018 to 2 September 2018. In March 2020, he succeeded him as chair of Denk's parliamentary group in the House of Representatives. ^[6] In May 2020, Denk said in a press release that Azarkan had been expelled from the party. In response to the decision, Kuzu and all local parliamentary group leaders indicated that they fully supported Azarkan. In a YouTube message to chairman Öztürk, Azarkan said he would not step down and called on Öztürk to resign instead. ^{[7] [8]}

In September 2020, he was appointed party leader and was re-elected during the 2021 Dutch general election. On 24 July 2023, Azarkan announced that he would leave national politics after the 2023 House of Representatives elections and that he would not run for party leadership again. ^[9]

Controversies

Social media

In February 2017, reports surfaced indicating that certain members of the youth department of Denk had created fake social media profiles with the intent of influencing public opinion. ^[10] Tunahan Kuzu acknowledged the existence of these internet trolls and stated that they would be held accountable for their actions. ^{[11] [12]} Furthermore, Kuzu said that "Farid Azarkan may have given some sort of permission, but that is not entirely clear." ^[13]

Azarkan has been criticised for designing a banner in the style of the PVV with the image of the populist politician Geert Wilders and the logo of the PVV with the slogan "After March 15, we will purify the Netherlands". According to Denk, the idea behind the campaign would have been to "show how far the PVV can go." Nonetheless, the party management, Selçuk Öztürk and Tunahan Kuzu, decided not to place the advertisement. ^{[14] [15]}

COVID-19

In December 2021, Azarkan came under fire after attending the post-election inauguration of the new House of Representatives and a debate on cabinet formation after testing positive for COVID-19. This came after Azarkan had previously accused the cabinet of irresponsibly handling pandemic measures in a WhatsApp conversation with fellow party member Stephan van Baarle. ^[16]

References

1. admin (23 March 2017). "Azarkan F. (DENK)". www.houseofrepresentatives.nl. Retrieved 4 October 2018.
2. "Een kudtkoekiewall. Omdat dat moet, van de kudtkoekiewet". www.geenstijl.nl. Retrieved 4 October 2018.
3. "Drs. F. (Farid) Azarkan MSc". www.parlement.com. Retrieved 4 October 2018.
4. Boon, Floor (8 September 2020). "Denk draagt Azarkan voor als lijsttrekker". NRC (in Dutch). Retrieved 8 September 2020.
5. "Drs. F. (Farid) Azarkan" . Retrieved 2025-11-25.
6. "Tunahan Kuzu stopt als partijleider Denk, vanwege 'impact op persoonlijk leven'" . Retrieved 2025-11-25.
7. "Bestuur Denk zet fractievoorzitter Azarkan uit de partij" . Retrieved 2025-11-25.
8. "Wij staan achter Farid Azarkan, wij staan achter DENK!" . Retrieved 2025-11-25.
9. "Tweede Kamer, 20e vergadering Dinsdag 5 december 2023" . Retrieved 2025-11-25.
10. Andreas KouwenhovenHugo Logtenberg 10 februari 2017 (10 February 2017). "Nep-aanhang is online actief voor politieke partij Denk - NRC". NRC. Retrieved 2017-03-11.
11. "Jongeren van partij Denk aangesproken op nepprofielen". Trouw . 14 February 2017. Retrieved 2017-03-12.
12. "Kuzu: trollen verleden tijd bij Denk | NOS". Nos.nl. 2017-02-14. Retrieved 2017-03-11.
13. Door: ANP (2017-02-16). "Kuzu spreekt tweede man Denk aan op inzet 'trollen' | NU - Het laatste nieuws het eerst op". Nu.nl. Retrieved 2017-03-11.
14. "DENK plande een nepnieuwscampagne onder PVV-vlag". NPO Radio 1 (in Dutch). Retrieved 20 May 2020.
15. "Denk werkte aan nepadvertentie PVV". nos.nl (in Dutch). 20 June 2018. Retrieved 20 May 2020.
16. "Denk-leider Azarkan ging na positieve coronatest toch naar Kamerdebat" . Retrieved 2025-11-25.