Excerpt:
Ayguel Oezkan has created waves before even taking office as social minister in the north-western German state of Lower Saxony.
The 38-year-old, who is a member of Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU), said in an interview on Saturday that crucifixes have as little place in state schools as do headscarves.
"Christian symbols do not belong in state schools," Oezkan told German magazine Focus, adding that "schools should be neutral places where children can decide their religious orientation on their own. Just as head scarves do not belong in classrooms."