Burcu Köksal (born 18 January 1980) is a Turkish politician from the

Republican People's Party The Republican People's Party (RPP; , CHP ) is a Kemalism, Kemalist and Social democracy, social democratic political party in Turkey. It is the oldest List of political parties in Turkey, political party in Turkey, founded by Mustafa Kemal ...

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

Afyonkarahisar Afyonkarahisar (, 'poppy, opium', ''kara'' 'black', ''hisar'' 'fortress') is a major city in western Turkey. It is the administrative centre of Afyonkarahisar Province and Afyonkarahisar District. Its population is 251,799 (2021). Afyon is in the ...

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 Istanbul University, also known as University of Istanbul (), is a Public university, public research university located in Istanbul, Turkey. Founded by Mehmed II on May 30, 1453, a day after Fall of Constantinople, the conquest of Constantinop ...

Faculty of Law. She has been a

lawyer A lawyer is a person who is qualified to offer advice about the law, draft legal documents, or represent individuals in legal matters. The exact nature of a lawyer's work varies depending on the legal jurisdiction and the legal system, as w ...

in Afyonkarahisar since 8 March 2004. She took part in Ataturkist Thought Association,

Branch of Association for the Support of Contemporary Life and Consumer Protection Association.

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, beating incumbent CHP MP Ahmet Toptaş for the first place list position, and was subsequently elected as the lone CHP Member of Parliament 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 language, Turkish: ''İYİ Parti'') is a Turkish nationalism, nationalist, Kemalism, Kemalist and Conservatism, conservative List of political parties in Turkey, political party in Turkey, established on 25 October 2017 b ...

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 was due to last until the latter half of 2022. ...

Köksal was renominated for the first place list position for Afyonkarahisar for the 2023 elections, and 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 The Peoples' Equality and Democracy Party (; , abbreviated as DEM Party) is a pro- Kurdish political party in Turkey. It is the legal successor of the Green Left Party and with the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) handing over its work to this ...

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

Personal life

On June 26, 2015, she married television programmer Yasin Köksal. Burcu Köksal has a son from her previous marriage.

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 Women mayors of places in Turkey