Tunç Soyer
Mr. Tunç Soyer was elected as the Mayor of Izmir Metropolitan Municipality, following the March 2019 municipal elections. Born in Ankara in 1959, he has lived in Izmir since early childhood. Upon completion of law studies in Ankara, he worked as a journalist at the Turkish News Agency.
In the 90s he was one of the founding members of a vacation village in Seferihisar. He worked as a manager in the tourism sector for nine years. In 2003, he served as an advisor to the Mayor of Izmir Metropolitan Municipality, Mr. Ahmet Piriştina. From 2004 to 2006, he was the Director of External Relations at the Chamber of Commerce of Izmir and in 2006, he was appointed as the General Manager of the Izmir EXPO by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In 2009, prior to being mayor of Izmir, Mr. Soyer was elected mayor of Seferihisar, a position he held for two terms.
In 2013, he was appointed Vice President of Cittaslow - an international network of cities for the good life. Since 2014, he has served as President of the Board of Directors of the Association of Social Democratic Municipalities (SODEM) and in 2019 he was a member of the Board of Directors of United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG).
Mr. Soyer holds a master's degree in international relations from Webster University in Switzerland, as well as a doctorate on the ''European Union'' from Dokuz Eylül University. He is married and is the father of two daughters.