Burcu Köksal (born 18 January 1980) is a

Turkish Turkish may refer to: *a Turkic language spoken by the Turks * of or about Turkey ** Turkish language *** Turkish alphabet ** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation *** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey *** Turkish communities and mi ...

politician from the

Republican People's Party The Republican People's Party ( tr, Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi, , acronymized as CHP ) is a Kemalist and social-democratic political party in Turkey which currently stands as the main opposition party. It is also the oldest political party ...

(CHP), who is currently the Mayor of Afyonkarahisar. She previously served as a

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

for

Afyonkarahisar Afyonkarahisar (, tr, afyon "poppy, opium", ''kara'' "black", ''hisar'' "fortress") is a city in western Turkey, the capital of Afyon Province. Afyon is in the mountainous countryside inland from the Aegean coast, south-west of Ankara along th ...

from 7 June 2015 until she was elected mayor in 2024.

Early life and career

Burcu Köksal was born on 18 January 1980 to a family of teachers in

. She completed her primary and secondary education in Afyonkarahisar and graduated from

Istanbul University , image = Istanbul_University_logo.svg , image_size = 200px , latin_name = Universitas Istanbulensis , motto = tr, Tarihten Geleceğe Bilim Köprüsü , mottoeng = Science Bridge from Past to the Future , established = 1453 1846 1933 ...

Faculty of Law. She has been a

lawyer A lawyer is a person who practices law. The role of a lawyer varies greatly across different legal jurisdictions. A lawyer can be classified as an advocate, attorney, barrister, canon lawyer, civil law notary, counsel, counselor, solic ...

in Afyonkarahisar since 8 March 2004.

Political career

Koksal served as President of the

(CHP) Afyonkarahisar Women's Branch in 2007. Köksal contested CHP preselection for the June 2015 general election, she beat incumbent CHP MP Ahmet Toptaş for the first place list position, and was subsequently elected as the lone CHP

for

. She was narrowly re-elected in the snap November 2015 elections. Köksal was one of 15 CHP deputies to join the

Good Party The Good Party ( Turkish: ''İyi Parti'') is a nationalist, national conservative, Kemalist, and liberal democrat political party in Turkey, established on 25 October 2017 by its current leader Meral Akşener. Their fraternal party is the liber ...

on 21 April 2018 to make the party eligible to contest the 2018 election. She retained first place on the CHP party list for

in the 2018 Elections and was re-elected. She was a member of the Turkish Grand National Assembly Presidency Council for the first half of the

27th Parliament of Turkey The 27th Parliament of the Turkish Republic was elected in a snap general election held on 24 June 2018 to the Grand National Assembly. It succeeded the 26th Parliament of Turkey in July 2018 and is due to last until the latter half of 2022. Th ...

Köksal was renominated for the first place list position for Afyonkarahisar for the

2023 elections The following elections are scheduled to occur in 2023. The National Democratic Institute also maintains calendar of elections around the world * 2023 United Nations Security Council election * 2023 national electoral calendar * 2023 local elec ...

, she was re-elected. She was then named a CHP deputy leader for the 28th Turkish Parliament. Köksal was selected as the CHP Mayoral candidate for Afyonkarahisar for the 2024 local elections. During the campaign, she attracted controversy for saying the doors of Afyonkarahar would be open to everyone except members of the Peoples' Equality and Democracy Party. Istanbul Mayor

Ekrem İmamoğlu Ekrem İmamoğlu (; born 4 June 1970) is a Turkish businessman, real estate developer, and politician serving as the 32nd Mayor of Istanbul. He was first elected with 4.1 million votes and won with a margin of 13,000 votes against his AKP opponen ...

called on her to resign her candidacy or join a different party. As a result of her remarks, the CHP sent and required all their mayoral candidates to sign a non-discrimination pledge. Köksal was elected Mayor of Afyonkarahisar with 50.73% of the vote and became the first woman mayor of the city. She was sworn in on 3 April 2024 and her resignation from Parliament took effect on the same day.

References

External links

MP profile on the Grand National Assembly website

Profile on the Municipality website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Koksal, Burcu 1980 births Living people Contemporary Republican People's Party (Turkey) politicians Good Party politicians Deputies of Afyonkarahisar People from Afyonkarahisar Istanbul University Faculty of Law alumni Members of the 25th Parliament of Turkey Members of the 26th Parliament of Turkey Members of the 27th Parliament of Turkey Members of the 28th Parliament of Turkey Turkish women MPs 21st-century Turkish women politicians 21st-century Turkish politicians Women mayors of places in Turkey