Melih Gökçek

Melih Gökçek — Biography

Melih Gökçek is a figure at the meeting point of Turkish politics, journalism and business. He served as mayor of Ankara Metropolitan Municipality from 1994 to 2017, the longest-serving mayor the city has had. He is regarded as the first person elected to that post five terms in a row, and he resigned on 28 October 2017.

He grew up in Gaziantep as the son of a lawyer. While studying political science he joined the right-leaning Free Thought Club, and he also trained in journalism. His working life began at the Gaziantep Haber newspaper, followed by parliamentary reporting and a post as deputy head of the private secretariat at the Ministry of Labor. He was among the founders of the Motherland Party in 1983, won the mayoralty of Keçiören in 1984 and lost it in 1989. He was then appointed head of the Social Services and Child Protection Agency, and in 1991 he moved to the Welfare Party and was elected an Ankara deputy. In 1994 he won the metropolitan mayoralty after an appeal to the Supreme Electoral Council, and he was re-elected in 1999 as a Virtue Party candidate and in later elections for the AK Party.

His years in office are associated with the Kızılırmak water project, Göksu Park, Dikmen Valley and the North Ankara urban renewal scheme, and in 2009 the municipality received the Europe Prize of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. The result of the 2014 election, however, was disputed by the opposition. He has been married to Nevin Gökçek since 1975 and has two sons.