Who is Buğra Gökce?

Who is Buğra Gökce, who was nominated as a candidate for the Republican People's Party (CHP) Izmir Metropolitan Municipality mayoralty?

Buğra Gökce was born in Ankara in 1974. He completed his undergraduate (1995) and master's (2000) degrees at the Gazi University Faculty of Architecture, Department of City and Regional Planning. Starting in 2002, he held various management positions at the TMMOB Chamber of City Planners and served as the Chamber's President between 2006 and 2007. From 2005 until 2014, he worked as a part-time lecturer at METU and Gazi University. Additionally, he was appointed as a member of the Izmir No. 2 Regional Board for the Protection of Cultural and Natural Heritage in 2008.

With a scholarship provided by the Japanese Government, he received postgraduate training in planning and urban transportation in Japan in 2007. Gökce, who completed his doctorate at the METU Department of City Planning in 2008, had his English doctoral thesis published by an international publishing house.

Gökce, who began his public service career at the Ankara Metropolitan Municipality Zoning Department in 1996, undertook many planning studies and roles such as coordinator for the Ankara 2023 Master Plan studies. Between 2009 and 2010, he served as the President of the Izmir No. 2 Regional Board for the Protection of Cultural and Natural Heritage.

Following the 2009 local elections, after he was not permitted to transfer from the Ankara Metropolitan Municipality to the Çankaya Municipality, he resigned from his civil service position and began working at the Çankaya Municipality. Between 2010 and 2014, he served as the Deputy Mayor responsible for investments at the Çankaya Municipality.

After the 2014 local elections, he began working as the Head of the Department of Science Affairs at the Izmir Metropolitan Municipality and was later appointed as Deputy Secretary General. He was appointed as the Secretary General of the Izmir Metropolitan Municipality in 2017, a position he had started in an acting capacity in 2016, and held this post until May 2022.

On June 1, 2022, he was appointed as Deputy Secretary General at the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality. Furthermore, he has been serving as the General Manager of IETT since February 1, 2023.

News Source: 12punto