Aytaç Durak
| Aytaç Durak | |
|---|---|
|
In office 27 March 1994 – 30 March 2014 |
|
| Preceded by | Selahattin Çolak |
| Succeeded by | Hüseyin Sözlü |
|
In office 25 March 1984 – 26 March 1989 |
|
| Preceded by | Ali Ahmet Kelecek |
| Succeeded by | Selahattin Çolak |
| Adana Municipal Councillor | |
|
In office 1963 – 12 September 1980 |
|
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1938 Karaisalı, Adana |
| Nationality | Turkish |
| Political party | AP, ANAP, AK Party, MHP |
| Occupation | Civil Engineer |
Aytaç Durak (born 1938 in Karaisalı, Adana) is a Turkish politician, and has been the mayor of Adana since 1984, excluding one term (1989–1994). He is the longest serving locally elected city mayor in Turkey, currently at his 5th term. Adding his 17 years as a municipal councillor, he will have served the municipality of Adana for 42 years by the end of this term. He was the president of the Municipalities Union of Turkey for 17 years and the Çukurova Municipalities Union for 12 years.
Aytaç Durak is the only politician to have run in all the municipal elections since 1973; twice as councillor, six times as mayoral candidate, losing only once in the 1989 mayoral race. He is regarded as the doyen of Turkey's local politics.
Aytaç Durak was born in Karaisalı district of Adana Province in 1938 to a middle-class merchant family. He was the second eldest of the six siblings. He completed his primary education (Grade 1-5) at Gazipaşa Public School, secondary education at Tepebağ Middle School (Grade 6-8) and at Adana Lycee for Boys (Grade 9-11). He studied Civil Engineering at Istanbul Technical University from 1957 to 1963.
He started his career in 1963 at State Hydraulic Works(DSİ) as Drinking Water Chief of Adana. In 1965, he was appointed as YSE (Road-Water-Electric Agency now called Rural Services) Director for Adana Province.
At the mean time, he became the member of Adana Chamber of Commerce. He completed compulsory military service at Ankara-Mamak War Institute and Military Research and Development Agency. Later in his life, he founded a construction company (Durak İnşaat) with his 2 civil engineer brothers and, during the 1970s and early 1980s, he built over 2000 homes.
In 1963, after starting his career at DSİ, he was appointed as Adana municipal councillor representing DSİ. After two terms as appointed Municipal Councillor, in 1973 municipal elections, he ran from Justice Party and elected as municipal councillor. In 1977 he was re-elected and also acted as the speaker of the Justice Party at the council. He served two terms as elected councillor and removed from the council by coup d'état on September 12, 1980 with all the other politicians in Turkey. Municipal democracy was suspended until 1984.
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