| Post: | Mayor |
| Body: | Istanbul |
| Incumbent: | Ekrem İmamoğlu |
| Incumbentsince: | 27 June 2019 |
| Style: | None, de facto full (given and family) name.[1] |
| Termlength: | Five years, renewable |
| Inaugural: | Pepe Salih Paşa (Ottoman Empire) Haydar Yuluğ (Republic of Turkey) |
| Formation: | 13 July 1855 11 July 1958 26 March 1984 (As Metropolitan Municipality) |
| Native Name: | İstanbul Büyükşehir Belediye Başkanı |
| Department: | Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality |
This is a list of mayors of Istanbul, Turkey. This covers the Ottoman Empire to the modern day Republic of Turkey; the name of the city in English is Constantinople during the Ottoman period and in the Republican era until 1930.
In the Ottoman Empire, the duty of municipal government was the responsibility of the "Şehremini", a mayor-like leader, and local religious judges, "Kadı".
The first mayor of Ottoman Constantinople after the conquest on May 29, 1453 was Hızırbey Çelebi. Until 1858, the capital of the Ottoman Empire was governed by a total of 422 kadis.
The idea to establish a municipality organization based on Western standards was first discussed in 1854 during the Crimean War when diplomats and journalists of allied nations came to Constantinople. Later, the parliament accepted a law for the establishment of the office of a mayor and a city council.
Salih Paşa received the first title of the new, modern Şehremini on July 13, 1858, and governed until November 4, 1858. During the Tanzimat period, 18 mayors took office.
In 1876, as First constitutional monarchy was proclaimed, Kadri Paşa was the mayor of Constantinople. During this period 10 mayors governed Constantinople.
During the reign of Young Turks, between 1908–1918 and until the foundation of the republic, 23 mayors served in the capital.
| Portrait | width=130 rowspan=2 | Name | Term of office | Political party | Notes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Took office | Left office | Time in office | |||||||
| Governors as mayors (1923–1960) | |||||||||
| 1 | Haydar Yuluğ | 15 April 1923 | 8 June 1924 | CHP | After the proclamation of the republic on October 29, 1923, the governor of the city was charged with the duties as deputy mayor. | ||||
| 2 | Emin Erkul | June 8 1924 | October 12 1928 | ||||||
| 3 | Mühittin Üstündağ | October 14 1928 | December 4 1938 | With the municipality act of April 3, 1930, the title of mayor was abandoned and the governor of Istanbul province took over the duties of the mayor. The two separate councils of the province and the municipality were unified. | |||||
| 4 | Lütfi Kırdar' | December 8 1938 | October 16 1949 | ||||||
| 5 | Fahrettin Kerim Gökay | October 24 1949 | October 26 1957 | Independent | The two councils were reestablished on March 1, 1957 | ||||
| – | Kemal Hadımlı | July 12 1957 | October 5 1957 | DP | Deputy Governor of Istanbul, appointed as acting mayor. | ||||
| 6 | Mümtaz Tarhan | November 29 1957 | May 11 1958 | ||||||
| 7 | Ethem Yetkiner | May 14 1958 | December 24 1958 | ||||||
| 8 | Kemal Aygün | December 25 1958 | May 27 1960 | ||||||
| Mayors during the military rule (1960–1963) | |||||||||
| 9 | Refik Tulga | May 27 1960 | June 14 1960 | Military | |||||
| 10 | Şefik Erensü | June 14 1960 | September 24 1960 | ||||||
| Refik Tulga | September 24 1960 | February 26 1962 | |||||||
| 11 | Turan Ertuğ | February 27 1962 | March 16 1962 | (Deputy) | |||||
| 12 | Kamuran Görgün | March 18 1962 | January 30 1963 | ||||||
| – | Kadri İlkay | January 30 1963 | January 31 1963 | (Deputy) | |||||
| – | Niyazi Akı | January 31 1963 | February 28 1963 | (Deputy) | |||||
| 13 | Necdet Uğur | February 28 1963 | December 9 1963 | ||||||
| Elected mayors of Istanbul Municipality (1963–1980) | |||||||||
| 14 | Haşim İşcan | December 10 1963 | March 11 1968 | CHP | The municipality act of July 27, 1963, enabled the election of the mayor. The polls held on November 17, 1963, were the first regional elections to elect the mayor. | ||||
| – | Faruk Ilgaz' | March 12 1968 | June 6 1968 | AP | (Deputy) | ||||
| 15 | Fahri Atabey | June 8 1968 | December 9 1973 | ||||||
| 16 | Ahmet İsvan' | December 14 1973 | December 11 1977 | CHP | |||||
| 17 | Aytekin Kotil | December 14 1977 | September 12 1980 | ||||||
| Mayors during the military rule (1980–1984) | |||||||||
| 18 | İsmail Hakki Akansel' | September 12 1980 | August 30 1981 | Military | |||||
| 19 | Ecmel Kutay' | August 30 1981 | March 24 1982 | ||||||
| 20 | Abdullah Tırtıl | March 24 1982 | March 26 1984 | ||||||
| Elected mayors of Istanbul Municipality (1984–present) | |||||||||
| 21 | Bedrettin Dalan | 26 March 1984 | 28 March 1989 | ANAP | On March 8, 1984, the metropolitan municipality act was put into force and on March 23 the municipality of Greater Istanbul was established. | ||||
| 22 | Nurettin Sözen | 28 March 1989 | 27 March 1994 | SHP | |||||
| 23 | Recep Tayyip Erdoğan | 27 March 1994 | 6 November 1998 | RP/FP | Elected in the 1994 election. Sacked after being sentenced to 10 months in jail.[2] | ||||
| 24 | Ali Müfit Gürtuna | 12 November 1998 | 28 March 2004 | FP | Elected by the city council.[3] | ||||
| Independent | |||||||||
| 25 | Kadir Topbaş | 28 March 2004 | 22 September 2017 | AKP | Re-elected twice (in 2009 and 2014). Resigned at the request of AKP and incumbent President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.[4] | ||||
| 26 | Mevlüt Uysal | 22 September 2017 | 17 April 2019 | AKP | Elected by the city council.[5] | ||||
| 27 | Ekrem İmamoğlu | 17 April 2019 | 6 May 2019 | CHP | Elected in the March 2019 election. Election annulled by the Supreme Electoral Council (YSK) on 6 May 2019. | ||||
| – | Ali Yerlikaya | 7 May 2019 | 27 June 2019 | Independent | Governor of Istanbul, appointed as acting mayor. | ||||
| Ekrem İmamoğlu | 27 June 2019 | Incumbent | CHP | Re-elected in the June 2019 re-run election and 2024 Turkish local elections. | |||||