Melih Gökçek

Melih Gökçek — Biography

İbrahim Melih Gökçek was born on October 20, 1948 in the Keçiören district of Ankara. Growing up close to politics from childhood, as his father served as the Justice Party's provincial chairman in Gaziantep, he graduated from the Faculty of Political Science at Ankara University and also studied at the Journalism Vocational School of Gazi University.

Before entering politics, he worked as a newspaper representative and parliamentary correspondent, and held posts as deputy chief of the private secretariat at the Ministry of Labor and as director general of the Social Services and Child Protection Agency. In the 1991 general elections he was elected to parliament as a Welfare Party deputy for Ankara.

Elected mayor of Ankara Metropolitan Municipality in 1994, Gökçek was returned to office in the 1999, 2004 and 2009 elections and led the city for roughly twenty-three years until 2017. Since leaving office he has continued to draw public attention through his political commentary.