Mustafa Demir (born 18 January 1961) is a Turkish architect, politician, and Mayor of the

Samsun Metropolitan Municipality Samsun is a List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, city on the north coast of Turkey and a major Black Sea port. The urban area recorded a population of 738,692 in 2022. The city is the capital of Samsun Province which has a population of ...

. Prior to his becoming mayor, he was the Samsun Deputy in the 22nd, 23rd and 24th legislative terms and served as the Minister of Public Works and Housing. He is the founder and former chairman of the ruling

AK Party The Justice and Development Party ( , AK PARTİ), abbreviated officially as AK Party in English, is a political party in Turkey self-describing as conservative-democratic. It has been the ruling party of Turkey since 2002. Third-party sources ...

Samsun Province Samsun Province () is a province and metropolitan municipality of Turkey on the Black Sea coast. Its area is 9,725 km2, and its population is 1,368,488 (2022). Its adjacent provinces are Sinop on the northwest, Çorum on the west, Amasy ...

chapter.

Early life and education

He was born in the Black Sea Region town of

Şalpazarı Şalpazarı is a municipality and Districts of Turkey, district of Trabzon Province, Turkey. Its area is 161 km2, and its population is 10,434 (2022). The mayor is Refik Kurukız (Nationalist Movement Party, MHP). Şalpazarı is a home to siz ...

Trabzon Trabzon, historically known as Trebizond, is a city on the Black Sea coast of northeastern Turkey and the capital of Trabzon Province. The city was founded in 756 BC as "Trapezous" by colonists from Miletus. It was added into the Achaemenid E ...

into a family with 9 children. His father Hüseyin Demir was a famous

coppersmith A coppersmith, also known as a brazier, is a person who makes artifacts from copper and brass. Brass is an alloy of copper and zinc. The term "redsmith" is used for a tinsmith that uses tinsmithing tools and techniques to make copper items. Hi ...

nicknamed 'Bakırcı Hüseyin' in the Şalpazarı District. Following his primary and high school education in Trabzon, Demir matriculated in 1979 at the

Karadeniz Technical University Karadeniz Technical University ( or KTÜ) is a public research university located in Trabzon, in the Black Sea Region of Turkey. Established in 1955, it is the fourth oldest university in the country. As a public institution, it operates under ...

and graduated in 1983 with a degree in

architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and construction, constructi ...

Early career

Demir started his career in commerce while in high school. His first career was in the field of copper-aluminum plate and kitchen goods fabrication and wholesaling. After graduating from high school, Demir underwent military training as a reserve officer and control engineer. After his release from the military, he resumed his work in the private sector. He worked as a Science Expert at Türkiye Real Estate Bank and later in the field of architecture and real-estate development in Samsun.NTV News
He became the Founding Member of the Independent Industrialists' and Businessmen's Association (MUSIAD) Samsun Branch and assumed the position of Vice President of the Branch. He also served as a member of the Atakum Municipality City Council.

Political career

He entered the Parliament on behalf of the

in the

2002 elections The following elections occurred in the year 2002. * 2002 Bahraini parliamentary election * 2002 Comorian presidential election * 2002 East Timorese presidential election * 2002 Fijian municipal election * 2002 Hong Kong Chief Executive election * ...

and became a Samsun Deputy in the 22nd Term. He served as the Chairman of the Public Works, Zoning, Transport and Tourism Commission of the Turkish Grand National Assembly. He was re-elected in the 2007 elections and entered the Parliament, and was re-elected as the chairman of the same commission in the 23rd Term. He was reelected as a member of parliament during the

2007 Turkish general election General elections were held in Turkey on 22 July 2007 to elect 550 members to the Grand National Assembly. Originally scheduled for November, the elections were brought forward after parliament failed to elect a new president to replace Ah ...

. In 2009, Prime Minister

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (born 26 February 1954) is a Turkish politician who is the 12th and current president of Turkey since 2014. He previously served as the 25th prime minister of Turkey, prime minister from 2003 to 2014 as part of the Jus ...

appointed Demir as Minister of Public Works and Housing, a post he held until 2011. He re-entered the Grand National Assembly of Turkey as the 24th term

Samsun Samsun is a List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, city on the north coast of Turkey and a major Black Sea port. The urban area recorded a population of 738,692 in 2022. The city is the capital of Samsun Province which has a population of ...

deputy. In the

2023 Turkish parliamentary election Parliamentary elections were held in Turkey on 14 May 2023, alongside presidential elections, to elect all 600 members of the Grand National Assembly. The incoming members formed the 28th Parliament of Turkey. The elections had originally been ...

he was elected from the Istanbul's second district.

Mayor of Samsun

Demir was elected as Samsun Metropolitan Municipality mayor in

2019 Turkish local elections The Turkish local elections of 2019 were held on Sunday 31 March 2019 throughout the 81 provinces of Turkey. A total of 30 metropolitan and 1,351 district municipal mayors, alongside 1,251 provincial and 20,500 municipal councillors were electe ...

. He succeeded Zihni Şahin who held the role briefly after the resignation of Yusuf Ziya Yilmaz. Yilmaz remains popular for his efforts to overhaul and renovate Samsun, a city that had been in recession for decades. As Mayor of Samsun, Demir has continued Yilmaz's legacy of advocating for major urban redevelopment projects and promoting efforts to improve quality of life in the city and region. Under Demir, major urban renewal initiatives have taken place in

İlkadım Ilkadim is a municipality and district of Samsun Province, Turkey. Its area is 155 km2, and its population is 333,518 (2022). It is located on the coast of Black Sea. The district has an altitude of 5 meters.It is also the most populous dist ...

and

Atakum Atakum is a municipality and district of Samsun Province, Turkey. Its area is 351 km2, and its population is 242,171 (2022). Atakum is a largely middle class suburban district located to the west of the primary city of Samsun and further subur ...

. Projects include the renovation of

Samsun Saathane Square Saathane Square is a public square in Samsun's Ilkadim district and takes its name from the Samsun Clock Tower which is located in the center of the square. Along with Republic Square (Samsun), it is one of two important and historical squares in ...

Republic Square (Samsun) Republic Square () is a large public square located in Ilkadim district of Samsun, Turkey. It is one of the two largest and busiest public squares in the center of Samsun including Samsun Saathane Square. The square was established in 1931 and h ...

, various public parks in the city center, the reopening of Istiklal Street to vehicular traffic, and the construction of a new public library in

. His administration has also overseen the construction of multiple housing, underground and road infrastructure projects.

Personal life

Demir is married to Ümmühan Demir. They have 5 children and he resides in

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Demir, Musafa 1961 births Living people Government ministers of Turkey Deputies of Samsun Deputies of Istanbul Justice and Development Party (Turkey) politicians Ministers of public works of Turkey Members of the 60th government of Turkey Members of the 22nd Parliament of Turkey Members of the 23rd Parliament of Turkey Members of the 24th Parliament of Turkey Members of the 25th Parliament of Turkey Members of the 26th Parliament of Turkey Members of the 27th Parliament of Turkey