Ekrem İmamoğlu

Ekrem İmamoğlu — Biography

Turkish politician and businessman Ekrem İmamoğlu served as mayor of Istanbul, the country's largest city, and since 2019 has been one of the most visible figures in national politics. He began in politics at the district-organisation level in Beylikdüzü, and his rise in local government took him first to the head of a district and then of the metropolis.

He grew up in Trabzon and went to school there. He studied English-medium business administration at Istanbul University and completed a master's degree in human resources at the same university. In 1992 he entered working life in the family companies engaged in construction and contracting, eventually rising to chairman of the board. He played football as an amateur in his school years; later he was an executive at Trabzonspor's football club and a founding vice-president of its basketball club, and he also took a role at Beylikdüzüspor.

He joined the Republican People's Party (CHP) in 2008, was appointed Beylikdüzü district chairman in 2009 and re-elected at the 2012 congress. He won the 2014 local elections and became mayor of Beylikdüzü. On March 31, 2019 he won the Istanbul metropolitan mayoralty, but the election was annulled; he won the rerun on June 23, 2019, returned to office and was reelected in 2024. That same year he became president of the Union of Municipalities of Turkey. On March 23, 2025 he was arrested and suspended from his post as mayor; he remains in custody as a defendant in the Istanbul municipality corruption trial that opened in Silivri on March 9, 2026, and denies the charges. He is married with three children.