Mustafa Tunç Soyer (born 1959) is a
Turkish politician from the
Republican People's Party (CHP) who currently serves as the Mayor of
İzmir
İzmir ( , ; ), also spelled Izmir, is a metropolitan city in the western extremity of Anatolia, capital of the province of the same name. It is the third most populous city in Turkey, after Istanbul and Ankara and the second largest urban aggl ...
, Turkey's third largest city. He was elected to the position in the
2019 mayoral election. He previously served as the Mayor of
Seferihisar
Seferihisar is a coastal district and the center town of the same district in İzmir Province, in Turkey. Seferihisar district area borders on other İzmir districts of Urla to the west and Menderes ( Cumaovası) to the east, and touches İzmir' ...
, a coastal district of İzmir, from 2009 to 2019.
Early life and education
Soyer was born 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 ...
, the capital city of Turkey, in 1959. He graduated from
Bornova Anadolu Lisesi
Bornova Anatolian High School ( tr, Bornova Anadolu Lisesi, abbreviated as "BAL") is a prominent school in Turkey.
History
The school was established in 1953 as İzmir College in İzmir. In 1955, it was formed into one of the 6 newly opened Maar ...
, a prestigious high school in
Bornova
Bornova is a metropolitan district of İzmir in İzmir Province in Turkey. It is the third largest district in İzmir's Greater Metropolitan Area of and is almost fully urbanized at the rate of 98.6 percent, with corresponding high levels of de ...
, a district of İzmir in which he received classes in foreign languages particularly in English and French before returning to Ankara to attend
Ankara University Faculty of Law. He graduated in 1981. During his education, he was also an actor and assistant theatrical director. He completed two
master's degree
A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice. s, one in
Webster University Geneva
Webster University Geneva is the Swiss campus of Webster University based in St. Louis, Missouri, USA. Founded in 1979, it is officially registered in Switzerland under Fondation Webster (English - Webster Foundation), the IDE number is CHE-107. ...
in the field of
international relations
International relations (IR), sometimes referred to as international studies and international affairs, is the scientific study of interactions between sovereign states. In a broader sense, it concerns all activities between states—such a ...
and another at
Dokuz Eylül University
Dokuz Eylül University ( tr, Dokuz Eylül Üniversitesi) (DEÜ) is a university in İzmir, Turkey. It was founded in 1982 and is organized in 15 faculties. DEU is the first university which applied the problem-based learning method in Turkey, ...
about the
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...
.
Political career
In addition to serving as Mayor of Seferihisar and İzmir, Soyer served as an advisor to the former mayor of İzmir,
Ahmet Piriştina
Ahmet Piriştina (8 April 1952 – 15 June 2004) was a Turkish politician who was Mayor of İzmir from 1999 to 2004. He was of Albanian descent.
Piriştina was born in İzmir, Turkey. He was elected as Mayor of İzmir in two consecutive el ...
. He also served as the assistant general secretary and executive member for foreign relations in the
İzmir Chamber of Commerce. He was the General Secretary for the EXPO 2015 Steering and Executive Committees.
Mayor of Seferihisar
Soyer was elected Mayor of
Seferihisar
Seferihisar is a coastal district and the center town of the same district in İzmir Province, in Turkey. Seferihisar district area borders on other İzmir districts of Urla to the west and Menderes ( Cumaovası) to the east, and touches İzmir' ...
, a coastal district of İzmir, in the
2009 local election. He was the candidate of the main opposition center-left
Republican People's Party (CHP). He was re-elected for a second term in the
2014 local election.
Soyer drew national attention for his success as Seferihisar mayor, having established the town as a modal tourist destination as part of the
slow movement culture.
Seferihisar
Seferihisar is a coastal district and the center town of the same district in İzmir Province, in Turkey. Seferihisar district area borders on other İzmir districts of Urla to the west and Menderes ( Cumaovası) to the east, and touches İzmir' ...
became a member of
Cittaslow
Cittaslow is an organisation founded in Italy and inspired by the slow food movement. Cittaslow's goals include improving the quality of life in towns by slowing down its overall pace, especially in a city's use of spaces and the flow of life a ...
, the first of its kind in Turkey. Because of his success and popularity in Seferihisar, Soyer was frequently seen as a potential future candidate for Mayor of İzmir.
Mayor of İzmir
Following the announcement that the serving mayor of İzmir,
Aziz Kocaoğlu
Aziz Kocaoğlu ( Erbaa 12 July 1948) is a Turkish politician who was Mayor of İzmir, Turkey's third largest city, from 2004 to 2019.
Life and career
He was born in 1948 at Erbaa in Tokat Province, a landlocked province in the Black Sea Region ...
, would not stand for another term, the CHP began considering new candidates. Despite Kocaoğlu deciding to re-enter the race shortly before the CHP was due to announce its candidate, Soyer was eventually selected, having long been seen as the frontrunner. Soyer was supported by the
İYİ 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 ...
, with which the CHP formed an electoral alliance named the
Nation Alliance.
In the
2019 mayoral election, which was held as part of the
2019 local elections, Soyer was elected with 58.1% of the vote, beating the
People's Alliance candidate
Nihat Zeybekçi. Zeybekçi, a former Economy Minister, received 38.7% of the vote. Tunç Soyer has organized many fairs under the leadership of İzmir Metropolitan Municipality.
Family and personal life
Tunç Soyer and Neptün Soyer got married in 1988, when Neptün Soyer was 22 years old. Neptün Soyer, worked in the tourism sector between 1999 and 2002.
Nurettin Soyer
Soyer's father, Nurettin Soyer, was a prosecutor who took part in opening cases against prominent politicians following the
1980 coup d'état. His prosecutions led to 5 death sentences, 9 life sentences and sentences ranging from 10 months to 36 years for another 221 defendants. Most of those prosecuted were from
far-right groups, most notably the
Grey Wolves
The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the gray wolf or grey wolf, is a large canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, and gray wolves, as popularly un ...
. One defendant who received 5 years in prison was
Alparslan Türkeş, the founder and first leader of the
Nationalist Movement Party
The Nationalist Movement Party (alternatively translated as Nationalist Action Party; tr, Milliyetçi Hareket Partisi, MHP) is a Turkish far-right and ultranationalist political party. The group is often described as neo-fascist, and has bee ...
(MHP).
When Tunç Soyer became the CHP's candidate for Mayor of İzmir in 2019, the governing
People's Alliance that includes the MHP sharply criticised him for his father's actions against nationalist politicians. However, Nurettin Soyer was also defended for being the only prosecutor ever to bring a case against
Fethullah Gülen
Muhammed Fethullah Gülen (born 27 April 1941) is a Turkish Islamic scholar, preacher, and a one-time opinion leader, as de facto leader of the Gülen movement. Gülen is designated an influential neo-Ottomanist, Anatolian panethnicist, Isl ...
, the leader of the
Gülen Movement
The Gülen movement ( tr, Gülen hareketi), referred to by its participants as Hizmet ("service") or Cemaat ("community") and since 2016 by the Government of Turkey as FETÖ ("Fethullahist Terrorist Organisation" or, more commonly, "Fethullah T ...
, an organisation that is claimed to be a
terrorist group
A number of national governments and two international organizations have created lists of organizations that they designate as terrorist. The following list of designated terrorist groups lists groups designated as terrorist by current and fo ...
by Turkish authorities (under the name 'FETÖ'.
)
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Soyer, Tunc
People from Ankara
Ankara University Faculty of Law alumni
Republican People's Party (Turkey) politicians
Mayors of İzmir
Living people
Dokuz Eylül University alumni
Seferihisar
Webster University alumni
1959 births