Mustafa Akaydın (born 24 April 1952, in

Çorum Çorum () (Medieval Greek: Ευχάνεια, romanized: Euchaneia) is a northern Anatolian city that is the capital of the Çorum Province of Turkey. Çorum is located inland in the central Black Sea Region of Turkey, and is approximately from ...

) is a Turkish politician of 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 served as the

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well a ...

Antalya Antalya () is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, fifth-most populous city in Turkey as well as the capital of Antalya Province. Located on Anatolia's southwest coast bordered by the Taurus Mountains, Antalya is the largest Turkish cit ...

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

. Prior to his political career, Akaydın held positions as a

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who pr ...

general surgeon General surgery is a surgical specialty that focuses on alimentary canal and abdominal contents including the esophagus, stomach, small intestine, large intestine, liver, pancreas, gallbladder, appendix and bile ducts, and often the thyroid ...

and a rector of

Akdeniz University Akdeniz University ( tr, Akdeniz Üniversitesi) is a public research university established in Antalya, Turkey. It has been chosen as the second most beautiful university in Turkey, after Boğaziçi University, with its campus having a wide and gr ...

Early life and academic career

Mustafa Akaydın was born in 1952 and received his primary and secondary education in

Ankara Ankara ( , ; ), historically known as Ancyra and Angora, is the capital of Turkey. Located in the central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5.1 million in its urban center and over 5.7 million in Ankara Province, maki ...

and

Istanbul Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...

. He graduated from the

Hacettepe University Hacettepe University is a leading state university in Ankara, Turkey. It was established on 8 July 1967. It is ranked first among the Turkish universities by URAP in 2021. The university has two main campuses. The first campus is in the old to ...

Faculty of Medicine in 1975. Akaydın became a General Surgery Specialist at the

Ankara University Ankara University ( tr, Ankara Üniversitesi) is a public university in Ankara, the capital city of Turkey. It was the first higher education institution founded in Turkey after the formation of the republic in 1923. The university has 40 vocat ...

Medical Science Faculty in 1979. In 1980 he became a lecturer at Akdeniz University. In the following years, he became associate professor in 1984 and then professor in 1992. He also participated in a one-year training in Germany and the United States, in

organ transplants Organ transplantation is a medical procedure in which an organ is removed from one body and placed in the body of a recipient, to replace a damaged or missing organ. The donor and recipient may be at the same location, or organs may be transpo ...

and

breast surgery Breast surgery is a form of surgery performed on the breast. Types Types include: *Breast reduction surgery *Augmentation mammoplasty *Mastectomy *Lumpectomy *Breast-conserving surgery, a less radical cancer surgery than mastectomy *Mastopexy, o ...

. From 1988 to 1990, Akaydın served as chairman of the Antalya Chamber of Doctors. Akaydın worked as vice-rector of Akdeniz University from 1996 until 2004, and later as rector from 2004 to 2008. As rector he took a firm stance on the university's headscarf ban. He also served on the Inter-University Committee between the years of 2000 and 2008, becoming the committee's chairman in the last two years of his membership.

Politics

On 1 December 2008 Akaydın entered politics. He stood in the 2009 local elections as a candidate of the

, winning the mayorship of Antalya with 42.34% of the vote. He succeeded

Menderes Türel Menderes Mehmet Tevfik Türel (born 11 July 1964, Antalya, Turkey) is a Turkish politician of the Justice and Development Party (AKP). He was the mayor of Antalya from 29 March 2004 until March 2009, and once again from 30 March 2014 to 8 April ...

of the

Justice and Development Party Justice and Development Party may refer to several political parties, the best-known ones being: * Justice and Development Party (Morocco) * Justice and Development Party (Turkey) Justice and Development Party may also refer to: * Justice and Dev ...

(AKP).

Term as mayor

's bus drivers contributed strongly to Akaydın's March 2009 election victory. Akaydın had also promised to introduce a new electronic

public transportation Public transport (also known as public transportation, public transit, mass transit, or simply transit) is a system of transport for passengers by group travel systems available for use by the general public unlike private transport, typical ...

card system known as "Halk Kart", to replace the "Antkart" system introduced by his predecessor, Menderes Türel. However, The new system brought by Akaydın was considered too expensive by local people. Antalya lost its host spot in the

2010 FIBA World Championship The 2010 FIBA World Championship was the 16th FIBA World Championship, the international basketball world championship contested by the men's national teams. The tournament ran from 28 August to 12 September 2010. It was co-organised by the Inte ...

Kayseri Kayseri (; el, Καισάρεια) is a large Industrialisation, industrialised List of cities in Turkey, city in Central Anatolia, Turkey, and the capital of Kayseri Province, Kayseri province. The Kayseri Metropolitan Municipality area is comp ...

, when a shortage of funds halted construction of the necessary facilities. Some locals and city authorities felt the decision was politically motivated, as Akaydın's election was a defeat for the ruling

, and

is the hometown of

Turkish president The president of Turkey, officially the president of the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti Cumhurbaşkanı), is the head of state and head of government of Turkey. The president directs the executive branch of the national govern ...

Abdullah Gül Abdullah Gül (; ; born 29 October 1950) is a Turkish politician who served as the 11th President of Turkey, in office from 2007 to 2014. He previously served for four months as Prime Minister from 2002 to 2003, and concurrently served as both ...

. Akaydın solved the serious sewage collection and disposal problem in Antalya, which involved construction of a new disposal center near Hurma. This center also produces electricity in order to reduce energy spending.

Defeat

Menderes Türel won back the Antalya mayorship in the tense 2014 elections, by a margin of just over 23,000 votes. Following the elections, security forces discovered a number of official documents being burnt, and Türel accused Akaydın of being responsible. After taking office, Türel launched a corruption investigation, which included a raid on Akaydın's home.

Personal life

Akaydın is married, and he has two children and one grandchild.

References

External links

Official Web Site of Antalya Metropolitan Municipality
{{DEFAULTSORT:Akaydin, Mustafa 1952 births Living people People from Çorum Contemporary Republican People's Party (Turkey) politicians Mayors of Antalya Members of the 25th Parliament of Turkey