Mustafa Sarıgül | |
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Mayor of Şişli | |
In office 1999–2014 |
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Personal details | |
Born | 15 November 1956 İliç, Erzincan Province, Turkey |
Political party | Republican People's Party |
Spouse(s) | Aylin Kotil (second wife, divorced, 2008) |
Residence | Şişli, Istanbul |
Religion | Islam |
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Mustafa Sarıgül (born 15 November 1956 in İliç, Erzincan Province, Turkey), is a writer, entrepreneur and politician. He was the mayor of the Şişli district in Istanbul between 1999 and 2014. He is recently embroiled in a legal battle with the current mayor of Şişli who accused Sarigul for threatening the life of his family.
Mustafa Sarıgül comes from Eastern Anatolia Region, where he grew up and visited the local school. As a young boy he herded sheep. In 1962 his family moved to Istanbul, where he saw his father, who worked as a bouncer and warehouse worker, for the first time. He studied at Marmara University professorship. He started his professional career directing İstanbul Elektrik Tramvay ve Tünel, a local transport company.
In the parliamentary elections in 1987, he was elected as a member of the Social Democratic Populist Party (SHP) with a record vote in the city of Istanbul as the youngest Member of Parliament of Turkey.
Between 1999 and 2002 Sarıgül was member of the Democratic Left Party (DSP) under Prime Minister Bülent Ecevit. On 19 April 1999, he was overwhelmingly elected mayor of Şişli, as the successor of Cuneyt Akgun. In 2002, he joined the Yeni Türkiye Partisi (New Turkey Party) of Foreign Minister İsmail Cem İpekçi, before he became a member of the Republican People's Party (CHP) in 2003. Within the CHP Sarıgül was an internal party rival of chairman Deniz Baykal. Due to that background he later was expelled from the party in 2005. He was involved in a fistfight with some of the delegates during the 2005 General Assembly of CHP that tarnished his potentials to get involved with national politics of Turkey. After a period as an independent, he announced in 2008 to become again member of the Democratic Left Party.