Ali Müfit Gürtuna (born 1 June 1952) was the mayor of

Istanbul ) , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = 34000 to 34990 , area_code = +90 212 (European side) +90 216 (Asian side) , registration_plate = 34 , blank_name_sec2 = GeoTLD , blank_i ...

from 11 November 1998 to 1 April 2004.

Political career

He started his political career at The Motherland Party, ( Turkish: ''Anavatan Partisi'', abbreviated as ANAP) in the beginning of the 1980s. He changed his side in 1994 by joining to the

Welfare Party The Welfare Party ( tr, Refah Partisi, RP) was an Islamist political party in Turkey. It was founded by Ali Türkmen, Ahmet Tekdal, and Necmettin Erbakan in Ankara in 1983 as heir to two earlier parties, National Order Party (MNP) and National ...

. His rise to success took place after this decision. He was appointed as the mayor of Istanbul in late 1998 and he was elected by popular vote on April 18, 1999. He is the first mayor in Turkey who has played musical instruments and placed importance in Arts. When his term in the office ended, he gave up politics for two years until he returned to public eye by starting the ''Turkuaz Hareketi'' (Turquoise Movement) in 2006.SABAH - 08/07/2006 - 'Turkuaz'ın lideri nabız yokluyor
/ref> He claimed that he formed an alliance from prominent politicians of

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...

from different political orientations to win the 2007 elections but they did not end up with standing for the election.

References

1952 births Mayors of Istanbul Living people Motherland Party (Turkey) politicians Welfare Party politicians {{Turkey-mayor-stub