List of mayors of Istanbul

This is a list of mayors of Istanbul, Turkey. This covers the Ottoman Empire to the modern day Republic of Turkey; the name of the city in English is Constantinople during the Ottoman period and in the Republican era until c. 1930.

Mayor of Istanbul
İstanbul Büyükşehir Belediye Başkanı
Incumbent Ekrem İmamoğlu since 27 June 2019
Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality
Style	None, de facto full (given and family) name.
Term length	Five years, renewable
Inaugural holder	Pepe Salih Paşa (Ottoman Empire) Haydar Yuluğ (Republic of Turkey)
Formation	13 July 1855 11 July 1958 26 March 1984 (As Metropolitan Municipality)
Website	ibb.istanbul

Ottoman Empire

During 1453–1858

In the Ottoman Empire, the duty of municipal government was the responsibility of the "Şehremini", a mayor-like leader, and local religious judges, "Kadı".

The first mayor of Ottoman Constantinople after the conquest on May 29, 1453 was Hızırbey Çelebi. Until 1858, the capital of the Ottoman Empire was governed by a total of 422 kadis.

Tanzimat period (1858–1876)

The idea to establish a municipality organization based on Western standards was first discussed in 1854 during the Crimean War when diplomats and journalists of allied nations came to Constantinople. Later, the parliament accepted a law for the establishment of the office of a mayor and a city council.

Salih Paşa received the first title of the new, modern Şehremini on July 13, 1858, and governed until November 4, 1858. During the Tanzimat period, 18 mayors took office.

First constitutional monarchy (1876–1908)

In 1876, as First constitutional monarchy was proclaimed, Kadri Paşa was the mayor of Constantinople. During this period 10 mayors governed Constantinople.

Second constitutional monarchy (1908–1923)

During the reign of Young Turks, between 1908–1918 and until the foundation of the republic, 23 mayors served in the capital.

Republic of Turkey

No.	Portrait	Name (Birth–Death)	Term of office			Political party		Notes
			Took office	Left office	Time in office
Governors as mayors (1923–1960)
1		Haydar Yuluğ (1878–1937)	15 April 1923	8 June 1924	1 year, 54 days		CHP	After the proclamation of the republic on October 29, 1923, the governor of the city was charged with the duties as deputy mayor.
2		Emin Erkul (1881–1964)	June 8 1924	October 12 1928	4 years, 126 days
3		Mühittin Üstündağ (1884–1953)	October 14 1928	December 4 1938	10 years, 53 days			With the municipality act of April 3, 1930, the title of mayor was abandoned and the governor of Istanbul province took over the duties of the mayor. The two separate councils of the province and the municipality were unified.
4		Lütfi Kırdar (1889–1961)	December 8 1938	October 16 1949	10 years, 312 days
5		Fahrettin Kerim Gökay (1900–1987)	October 24 1949	October 26 1957	8 years, 2 days		Independent	The two councils were reestablished on March 1, 1957
–		Kemal Hadımlı (1908–19??)	July 12 1957	October 5 1957	85 days		DP	Deputy Governor of Istanbul, appointed as acting mayor.
6		Mümtaz Tarhan (1908–1970)	November 29 1957	May 11 1958	163 days
7		Ethem Yetkiner (1912–1973)	May 14 1958	December 24 1958	224 days
8		Kemal Aygün (1914–1979)	December 25 1958	May 27 1960	1 year, 154 days
Mayors during the military rule (1960–1963)
9		Refik Tulga (1907–1981)	May 27 1960	June 14 1960	18 days		Military
10		Şefik Erensü (1912–1989)	June 14 1960	September 24 1960	102 days
(9)		Refik Tulga (1907–1981)	September 24 1960	February 26 1962	1 year, 155 days
11		Turan Ertuğ	February 27 1962	March 16 1962	17 days			(Deputy)
12		Kamuran Görgün	March 18 1962	January 30 1963	318 days
–		Kadri İlkay	January 30 1963	January 31 1963	1 day			(Deputy)
–		Niyazi Akı (1913–1992)	January 31 1963	February 28 1963	28 days			(Deputy)
13		Necdet Uğur (1923–2004)	February 28 1963	December 9 1963	284 days
Elected mayors of Istanbul Municipality (1963–1980)
14		Haşim İşcan (1898–1968)	December 10 1963	March 11 1968	4 years, 92 days		CHP	The municipality act of July 27, 1963, enabled the election of the mayor. The polls held on November 17, 1963, were the first regional elections to elect the mayor.
–		Faruk Ilgaz (1922–2014)	March 12 1968	June 6 1968	86 days		AP	(Deputy)
15		Fahri Atabey (1913–1994)	June 8 1968	December 9 1973	5 years, 184 days
16		Ahmet İsvan (1923–2017)	December 14 1973	December 11 1977	3 years, 362 days		CHP
17		Aytekin Kotil (1934–1992)	December 14 1977	September 12 1980	2 years, 273 days
Mayors during the military rule (1980–1984)
18		İsmail Hakki Akansel (1924–2016)	September 12 1980	August 30 1981	352 days		Military
19		Ecmel Kutay (1927–1998)	August 30 1981	March 24 1982	206 days
20		Abdullah Tırtıl (1923–1996)	March 24 1982	March 26 1984	2 years, 2 days
Elected mayors of Istanbul Municipality (1984–present)
21		Bedrettin Dalan (born 1941)	26 March 1984	28 March 1989	5 years, 2 days		ANAP	On March 8, 1984, the metropolitan municipality act was put into force and on March 23 the municipality of Greater Istanbul was established.
22		Nurettin Sözen (born 1937)	28 March 1989	27 March 1994	4 years, 364 days		SHP
23		Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (born 1954)	27 March 1994	6 November 1998	4 years, 224 days		RP/FP	Elected in the 1994 election. Sacked after being sentenced to 10 months in jail.
24		Ali Müfit Gürtuna (born 1952)	12 November 1998	28 March 2004	5 years, 137 days		FP (until 2001)	Elected by the city council.
							Independent (from 2001)
25		Kadir Topbaş (1945–2021)	28 March 2004	22 September 2017	13 years, 179 days		AKP	Re-elected twice (in 2009 and 2014). Resigned at the request of AKP and incumbent President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
26		Mevlüt Uysal (born 1966)	22 September 2017	17 April 2019	1 year, 207 days		AKP	Elected by the city council.
27		Ekrem İmamoğlu (born 1970)	17 April 2019	6 May 2019	19 days		CHP	Elected in the March 2019 election. Election annulled by the Supreme Electoral Council (YSK) on 6 May 2019.
–		Ali Yerlikaya (born 1968) Acting	7 May 2019	27 June 2019	51 days		Independent	Governor of Istanbul, appointed as acting mayor.
(27)		Ekrem İmamoğlu (born 1970)	27 June 2019	Incumbent	5 years, 147 days		CHP	Re-elected in the June 2019 re-run election and 2024 Turkish local elections.

See also

• List of mayors of Ankara