President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, who is on a visit to the Federal Republic of Germany, was welcomed by the President of this country, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, at the "Villa Borsig" residence in Berlin on July 21.
The presidents of Azerbaijan and Germany first held a one-on-one meeting, then an expanded meeting.
President of the Federal Republic of Germany Frank-Walter Steinmeier and his wife Elke Büdenbender visited Baku in April 2025.
At that time, Frank-Walter Steinmeier and First Lady Elke Büdenbender participated in a number of official and unofficial events in Baku, visited Icherisheher, and watched a concert organized at the Heydar Aliyev Center.
Frank-Walter Steinmeier also disappointed Armenians by saying "Karabakh is the territory of Azerbaijan" in a statement he made in Baku.
According to Modern.az, Frank-Walter Steinmeier is known in Europe as the President who gave one of his kidneys to his wife.
70-year-old German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and 64-year-old First Lady Elke Büdenbender have a daughter named Merit, born in 1996.
Steinmeier lives with his family in Zehlendorf, one of Berlin's most prestigious areas.
First Lady Elke Büdenbender underwent kidney transplant surgery in 2010.
Her husband was the donor. At that time, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who donated one of his kidneys to his wife, was forced to temporarily leave the political arena.
At that time, Frank-Walter Steinmeier explained his being a donor for his wife as follows:
"Due to the lack of alternatives and the results of the analyses, I became a kidney donor myself."
According to the politician, the couple decided not to wait for a donor kidney, because, according to doctors, transplantation was urgently needed and this process should not be delayed.
In October 2010, Frank-Walter Steinmeier returned to active political life.
Germany's First Lady Elke Büdenbender is an administrative judge. She tries to keep her private life out of the public eye as much as possible. Interestingly, Elke Büdenbender did not change her surname after marrying Steinmeier in 1995. Although she tried to keep her private life out of the spotlight, in the summer of 2010, Elke Büdenbender unintentionally found herself in the public eye. At that time, she was suffering from kidney failure. The situation had become so complicated that Elke had only two options: either receive dialysis treatment several times a week for the rest of her life, or a kidney transplant. However, the average waiting time for a suitable organ was five to seven years - and Elke did not have time. Her husband came to her aid in the matter of a donor.
At that time, Frank-Walter Steinmeier's actions earned him deep public respect. He knew well what he was doing: for several decades now, Frank-Walter Steinmeier has been carrying a special card confirming his consent to be an organ donor after his death.
During his student years, Steinmeier himself faced a similar situation: the future politician, who contracted a severe infection, could have lost his sight, and it was only thanks to a risky corneal transplant that he was saved from this. At that time, his eye was operated on.
Frank-Walter Steinmeier was elected President of Germany on March 19, 2017. Before that, he served as Germany's Minister of Foreign Affairs (2005-2009 and 2013-2017), and was Vice-Chancellor in 2007-2009. Steinmeier is a member of the Social Democratic Party and a doctor of law.
A.Gafarli
