Who is Fatma Şahin?

Fatma Şahin was born in 1966 in Gaziantep. After completing her primary, secondary, and high school education in Gaziantep, she pursued higher education at the Istanbul Technical University, Department of Chemical and Metallurgical Engineering. She began her professional career working as an Operations Engineer and Operations Manager in the Gaziantep Organized Industrial Zone.

In 2001, she became a founding member of the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) in Gaziantep. In the 2002 general parliamentary elections, she was elected as the first female member of parliament for the AK Party from Gaziantep. She served as a Gaziantep MP for the 22nd, 23rd, and 24th terms in parliament.

Throughout her tenure in the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (TBMM), she served on various commissions and held significant roles, such as Chair of the Research Commission on Violence Against Women and Children. She also served as the Chair of the AK Party Headquarters Women's Branch and as the Deputy Chair responsible for organization within the AK Party Headquarters Women's Branch.

Following the 2011 general elections, she served as the founding Minister of Family and Social Policies in the 61st government. In the 2014 local elections, she was elected Mayor of Gaziantep Metropolitan Municipality, becoming one of Turkey's first female metropolitan mayors. In 2018, she was elected President of the Union of Municipalities of Turkey.

Fatma Şahin also served as President of the Asian Mayors Forum between 2016 and 2019, Vice President of United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG) in 2016, and President of the United Cities and Local Governments Middle East and West Asia Section (UCLG MEWA). In 2021, Gaziantep was declared a "Green City" by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). Furthermore, she became the first mayor from Turkey to be selected for the OECD Champion Mayors for Inclusive Growth initiative, and in 2023, she was appointed by United Nations (UN) Secretary-General António Guterres to the UN Advisory Group on Local and Regional Governments, establishing herself as an influential figure on the international stage.

News Source: 12punto