Mehmet Güreli

Mehmet Güreli — Biography

Mehmet Güreli was born in 1949 in Istanbul and has built a multidisciplinary career spanning painting, music, literature and film. The brother of painter Talat Güreli and nephew of writer Salâh Birsel, he attended İstanbul Erkek Lisesi, the Austrian High School, Yeni College and Ferhan College before studying philosophy at Istanbul University's Faculty of Letters.

He released his first album under the pseudonym "Mephisto" in 1973 and began working for the Hürriyet newspaper in 1976, becoming known in the 1980s as art's "decathlete" for his output across so many disciplines. His debut story collection, Sıcak Bir Göz, appeared in 1985, followed by the 1986 short film Vapurlar, inspired by Leylâ Erbil's story Vapur, and the documentaries Necdet Mahfi Ayral (2003) and İstanbul'a Yolculuk - Dünya Yazarlarının Gözüyle (2006). He also acted in the productions Gönül Yarası and İkinci Bahar and in the TRT 1 series Beni Böyle Sev. In 2021 he released the collaborative album Mehmet Güreli ile Buluşmalar, featuring artists such as Jehan Barbur and Cem Adrian.

Güreli has continued making documentaries in recent years: in 2025 he completed Sisler Bulvarı'ndan Geçtim: Biket İlhan, a portrait of director Biket İlhan, and in the summer of 2026 a biographical documentary about his own life, Sıcak Bir Göz: Mehmet Güreli, had its trailer released.