Macit Özcan, (born 1954 in

Karataş Karataş (Turkish language, Turkish for ''black stone'') is a municipality and Districts of Turkey, district of Adana Province, Turkey. Its area is 862 km2, and its population is 23,499 (2022). The town itself has 10,293 inhabitants. It is o ...

Adana Province Adana Province () is a Provinces of Turkey, province and Metropolitan municipalities in Turkey, metropolitan municipality of Turkey located in central Cilicia. The administrative seat of the province is the city of Adana, home to 78.25% of the r ...

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

) is a Turkish politician of the

Republican People's Party The Republican People's Party (RPP; , CHP ) is a Kemalism, Kemalist and Social democracy, social democratic political party in Turkey. It is the oldest List of political parties in Turkey, political party in Turkey, founded by Mustafa Kemal ...

(CHP) and a former mayor of

Mersin Mersin () is a large city and port on the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean coast of Mediterranean Region, Turkey, southern Turkey. It is the provincial capital of the Mersin Province (formerly İçel). It is made up of four district governorates ...

. After his secondary education in

Adana Adana is a large city in southern Turkey. The city is situated on the Seyhan River, inland from the northeastern shores of the Mediterranean Sea. It is the administrative seat of the Adana Province, Adana province, and has a population of 1 81 ...

, he graduated in civil engineering from Çukurova University. He went on to work as a civil engineer in the Ministry of Public Works and Housing. He has lived in Mersin since 1980. He was elected Mayor of Mersin in 1999. He successfully stood for a third term in the March 2009 election. But in 2014 (partially because of the change in the election territory borders) he lost the

elections An election is a formal group decision-making process whereby a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has operated ...

. Özcan has been accused of being a "political octopus" and prone to corruption and dishonesty. Committed to improving relations with his Arab neighbours, in 2006 Özcan launched a ferry service to the Syrian port of

Latakia Latakia (; ; Syrian Arabic, Syrian pronunciation: ) is the principal port city of Syria and capital city of the Latakia Governorate located on the Mediterranean coast. Historically, it has also been known as Laodicea in Syria or Laodicea ad Mar ...

, which is one of Mersin's twin cities. He is married with two children.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ozcan, Macit 1954 births Living people 20th-century mayors of places in Turkey 21st-century mayors of places in Turkey Mayors of Mersin Republican People's Party (Turkey) politicians Çukurova University alumni