 In 1982, he became a professor for politics and migration policy at the Hamburg University of Applied Sciences (HAW) .Keskin became the first person of Turkish descent to become a member of a German parliament in 1993, as representative in the Bürgerschaft of the Free and Hanseatic city of Hamburg for the SPD.In 1995, he formed the "Türkische Gemeinde Deutschlands", a Turkish community organization, to which he became president.