Meet Tunc Soyer, Izmir’s new mayor

Tunc Soyer, the Republican People’s Party (CHP) candidate for Izmir, who, like Mansur Yavas, was also supported by IYI party, secured 58 percent of the votes.

Soyer defeated his rival Nihat Zeybekci, who is candidate of People’s Alliance.

Turkish citizens participated in the local elections across the country to elect their mayors and municipal council members for the next five years on Sunday, March 31.

Soyer was born in Ankara in 1959 and grew up in Izmir and later went on to graduate from Ankara University with a law degree. He also holds two master’s degrees.

Izmir, a city with more than three million voters, is a CHP stronghold.

Before joining politics, Soyer worked in the tourism industry for five years. In 1991, he established a holiday resort in Sefehisar, of which he was manager for nine years.

In 2003, Soyer became the adviser of Mayor Ahmet Piristina.

Between 2004 and 2006, he worked in Foreign Affairs Department as deputy secretary-general at Izmir Chamber of Commerce.

In 2006, he was appointed as secretary-general of the steering committee and executive committee of Izmir by the Foreign Ministry.

Soyer was elected mayor of Seferhisar by the CHP in 2009 and then again in 2014.

He brought the Cittaslow movement, a quality of life watchdog, to Turkey and slowly spread it across the country.

In 2013, Soyer, who is fluent in both French and English, became vice president of the Cittaslow Association in Italy.

He is married and has two daughters.