Özlem Çerçioğlu

Özlem Çerçioğlu (born 11 August 1968) is a Turkish politician who has served as the mayor of Aydın since 2009. She has been a member of the Islamist Justice and Development Party (AKP) since 2025, Republican People's Party (CHP). While with the CHP, she became Aydın’s first female mayor. Her 2025 switch to the AKP sparked significant political controversy and criticism from CHP supporters. She was elected as mayor of Aydın in 2009, becoming the first female mayor of the metropolitan municipality, and was re-elected again in 2014 and 2019. Çerçioğlu's resignation from her party of 23 years, where she had served two terms in parliament and four terms as mayor, drew criticism from the provincial and district branches of the CHP in Aydın. On the same day, the CHP Provincial Presidency organized a rally titled “Aydın Stands for its Will” in front of the Aydın Metropolitan Municipality building to protest her decision. CHP leader Özgür Özel accused Çerçioğlu of leaving the party due to threats from the ruling government and that her defection was a "stealing of votes". He further claimed that ongoing corruption investigations and blackmailing against several CHP mayors, including Çerçioğlu, were a key factor behind their defections to the AKP. After her switch to AKP, Çerçioğlu was acquitted in the cases in which she had been tried on charges of bid rigging and abuse of office and her family company Jantsa achieved privileged merchant status by the Turkish government.