Menderes Mehmet Tevfik Türel (born 11 July 1964, in

Antalya Antalya is the fifth-most populous city in Turkey and the capital of Antalya Province. Recognized as the "capital of tourism" in Turkey and a pivotal part of the Turkish Riviera, Antalya sits on Anatolia's southwest coast, flanked by the Tau ...

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 ...

) 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 2019. When Menderes Turel was first elected, in the 2004 local elections, he was among the youngest metropolitan mayors of Turkey. Born into a family from Antalya, he served for many years as a member of Antalya Chamber of Trade and Industry (ATSO). Much of his working life has been spent at the printing house of the Yeni Ileri newspaper owned by his family. Türel emphasized during his election campaign that Antalya should become a world brand like major world cities. He regarded infrastructure as the most important problem of the city. The performance that Türel made after taking office was well received by the citizens of Antalya according to the results of public opinion polls. His successor

Mustafa Akaydın Mustafa Akaydın (born 24 April 1952, in Çorum) is a Turkish politician of the Republican People's Party (CHP), who served as the mayor of Antalya, Turkey. Prior to his political career, Akaydın held positions as a professor, general surgeon an ...

criticized Türel's performance as

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, 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 responsibilitie ...

, saying, ''"The

Municipality has

debt Debt is an obligation that requires one party, the debtor, to pay money Loan, borrowed or otherwise withheld from another party, the creditor. Debt may be owed by a sovereign state or country, local government, company, or an individual. Co ...

to the tune of 400 million

Turkish lira The lira (; Currency sign, sign: Turkish lira sign, ₺; ISO 4217, ISO 4217 code: TRY; abbreviation: TL) is the official currency of Turkey. It is also legal tender in the ''de facto'' state of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. One lira i ...

s. The

underpass A subway, also known as an underpass, is a grade-separated pedestrian crossing running underneath a road or railway in order to entirely separate pedestrians and cyclists from motor or train traffic. Terminology In the United States, as ...

-based infrastructure investments and

tram A tram (also known as a streetcar or trolley in Canada and the United States) is an urban rail transit in which Rolling stock, vehicles, whether individual railcars or multiple-unit trains, run on tramway tracks on urban public streets; some ...

project are full of technical mistakes."''
Hürriyet, ''A local election campaign to win over Mediterranean hearts, minds'', 2009.03.09, Retrieved 04.04.2011. Menderes Turel has been criticized by environmentalists due to the constructions of big hotels and resorts in the natural areas of Antalya during his time. Among others, one of the big hotels was constructed by Cengiz Holding, i.e. the company linked to the

2013 corruption scandal in Turkey The 2013 corruption scandal in Turkey or 17–25 December Corruption and Bribery Operation was a criminal investigation that involved several key people in the Turkish government. All of the 52 people detained on 17 December were connected in v ...

. This hotel was sold to the Rixos Hotel Group in 2009, where Turel was working as a chief consultant in 2009.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Turel, Menderes 1964 births Living people 21st-century mayors of places in Turkey People from Antalya Justice and Development Party (Turkey) politicians Mayors of Antalya Members of the 24th Parliament of Turkey