SPEAKER

Born in Ankara in 1959, Tunç Soyer has lived in Izmir since his early childhood. After graduating from Bornova Anatolian Highschool, he completed his university degree at the Ankara University Faculty of Law. During this time he worked as a correspondent in the Turkish News Agency. He has also translated a work on the tragedy of women in immigrant camps into Turkish. Tunç Soyer has a Master’s Degree on “International Relations” from Webster College in Switzerland and on the “European Union” from Dokuz Eylül University.

In 2009 he was elected as the Mayor of Seferihisar and carried on this task for two terms. He has implemented the international local-scale development model Cittaslow (Slow City) first to Seferihisar and then introduced it to the seven geographical areas of Turkey and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. In 2013, he was appointed the Vice President of the Cittaslow Unity centered in Italy, became the Chairman of the Board of SODEM (Social Democrat Municipalities Association) in 2014 and in 2019, he was elected as a Board Member of United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG). Along with these duties, he has been elected as the Mayor of Izmir Metropolitan Municipality at the local elections held in March 2019. He is married and has two daughters.

Tunç Soyer will be speaking on Friday 8th November at the international conference Europe For the Many.