Fatih Mehmet Maçoğlu (Also known as 'The Communist Mayor') (born 20 December 1968, Çemberlitaş, Ovacık District) is a Turkish
communist
Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...
politician of Kurdish descent and founder of Socialist Councils Federation (SMF). He was the mayor of Tunceli, representing the Communist Party of Turkey (TKP), from 2019 to 2024.
Early life and education
He was born in the village of Çemberlitaş in Tunceli Province in December 1968 and attended primary school in Ovacık and health high school in
Bingöl
Bingöl (; ; ), known as Çapakçur before 1944, is a city in Turkey. It is the seat of Bingöl Province and Bingöl District,
Professional career
From 1989 onwards he worked in healthcare. First in Bozkir in
Konya
Konya is a major city in central Turkey, on the southwestern edge of the Central Anatolian Plateau, and is the capital of Konya Province. During antiquity and into Seljuk times it was known as Iconium. In 19th-century accounts of the city in En ...
and between 1992 and 2007 in Pertek, Tunceli. From 2007 onwards he worked in
emergency care
Emergency medicine is the medical specialty concerned with the care of illnesses or injuries requiring immediate medical attention. Emergency physicians (or "ER doctors") specialize in providing care for unscheduled and undifferentiated pa ...
in the Tunceli state hospital. He resigned from his work in hospital in order to stand as a mayoral candidate for Ovacik in the local elections of 2014.
Political career
He was elected mayor of Ovacık in 2014, where he was known for implementing initiatives like free public transport and agricultural projects such as bee keeping and chickpea cultivation with which the gains supported university students. He also encouraged the opening of several libraries in Ovacık.
In the local elections in 2019, he was elected mayor of Tunceli, the province's capital. During his tenure, he was noted for refusing to use his official car, posted the city council's finances on a banner hung on the front of his office building for transparency, opening a cooperative whose sales from agricultural products funded university students from poor families, and providing free transport for students. He ran for mayor of
Kadıköy
Kadıköy () is a municipality and Districts of Turkey, district on the Asian side of Istanbul Province, Istanbul Province, Turkey. Its area is 25 km2, and its population is 467,919 (2023). It is a large and populous area in the Asian si ...