Aziz Kocaoğlu ( Erbaa 12 July 1948) is a Turkish politician who was Mayor of

İzmir İzmir is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, third most populous city in Turkey, after Istanbul and Ankara. It is on the Aegean Sea, Aegean coast of Anatolia, and is the capital of İzmir Province. In 2024, the city of İzmir had ...

, 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 of

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

. He graduated from the Economy School of İzmir's Ege University in 1973 and received a master's degree in management from Istanbul University in 1974. Between 1975 and 1978 he was an accountant in a public institution. In 1979, he launched his own business in furniture and ceramics. At the same time, he started his political activities in the frame of the youth branch of CHP. After the general interruption of political activities in the 1980s in Turkey, in 1987 he joined the SHP, which was the country's main center-left party at the time. After SHP and the re-established CHP were merged, he became a CHP member again, pursuing and developing his business activities at the same time. Rising in the rank and file of Republican People's Party's İzmir branch, he was elected as Mayor of Bornova (a metropolitan district of İzmir) after the local elections of 28 March 2004. Following the sudden death of İzmir Metropolitan Municipality mayor Ahmet Piriştina, Kocaoğlu was elected by CHP's İzmir branch to the post of metropolitan mayor in June 2004. Since then, although drawing a quieter profile than his predecessor, Aziz Kocaoğlu established himself with his orderly conduct of the city's affairs, sound financial management and smooth human relations, as exemplified during the

Universiade The FISU World University Games, formerly the Universiade, is an international multi-sport event, organized for university athletes by the International University Sports Federation (FISU). The former name is a Blend word, portmanteau of the wor ...

2005 games which

had assumed. On 1 October 2018, he announced that he would not be a candidate in the Turkish local elections, 2019 to be held on 31 March 2019. Aziz Kocaoğlu is married and has two children.

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kocaoglu, Aziz 1948 births Politicians from İzmir Living people 21st-century mayors of places in Turkey Mayors of İzmir Contemporary Republican People's Party (Turkey) politicians Social Democracy Party (Turkey) politicians 20th-century Turkish politicians