Recep Gürkan (born 1 August 1964 in

İpsala İpsala (, ) is a town and district of Edirne Province in northwestern Turkey. It is the location of one of the main border checkpoints between Greece and Turkey. (The Greek town opposite İpsala is Kipoi.) The population is 8,332 (the city) an ...

, Edirne Province) is a Turkish politician and member of the CHP. He was previously a member of the

Grand National Assembly Great National Assembly or Grand National Assembly may refer to: * Great National Assembly of Alba Iulia, an assembly of Romanian delegates that declared the unification of Transylvania and Romania * Great National Assembly (Socialist Republic of R ...

and has been the mayor of

Edirne Edirne (, ), formerly known as Adrianople or Hadrianopolis (Greek: Άδριανούπολις), is a city in Turkey, in the northwestern part of the province of Edirne in Eastern Thrace. Situated from the Greek and from the Bulgarian borders, ...

since 30 March 2014.

Life and work

After finishing school, Gürkan continued his studies at

Trakya University Trakya University ( tr, Trakya Üniversitesi), was established on July 20, 1982. The university is located in Edirne, at Turkey's European side (Eastern Thrace). Trakya University is a regional university with institutions and schools spread o ...

in Edirne and the

Anadolu University Anadolu University ( tr, Anadolu Üniversitesi) is a public university in Eskişehir, Turkey. The university is known for its success in verbal fields such as history and communication. Its Faculty of Communication Sciences is sometimes conside ...

in Eskişehir. He graduated from the Faculty of Social Science, Department of Administration. Following his studies, Gürkan worked as a teacher and headmaster at various Turkish schools, and was later given the position of vice-director of the National Education Directorate in Edirne. He was also given positions at the Coordination Directorate for Planning in

Istanbul Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...

and the Thrace Development Association. Gürkan also led the management of the Regional Technology Development Firm Techno Inc. and was a member of the Kemalist Working Group for the Future and Modern Life in Turkey. He became General Secretary of Trakya University during the time when