Organizational Chart

Management Development Center was established to support the corporate capacity building efforts of local governments.

Sustainability and Climate Change Center (SCC), conducts studies in the field of sustainability and climate change; focusing on transportation, energy and buildings, land use and biodiversity, water and wastewater, waste, agriculture and food without disregarding the notions of governance, finance and digitalization, and provides guidance and support to members in this regard.

Data and Technology Center (DTC) prepares research and publications in areas such as data and management, digitalization, smart cities and urban technologies.

Urban Policy Center (UPC) works to develop urban and regional policies for cities with a high quality of life and a fair urbanization.

Migration Policy Center (MPC) was founded in 2015 with the purpose of providing an interworking platform for the relevant stakeholders on the topics such as migration, asylum, social cohesion, and urban belonging.

The Local Government Academy (LGA) is designed as a practice-oriented academy that develops legislation and vision in the field of local governments.

Directorate of Editorial Affairs and Logistics

Sefa Şahin
Director of Editorial Affairs and Logistics
[email protected]

Şahin completed her undergraduate studies in Marmara University Department of Information and Document Management and had his master's degree at the Department of Local Administrations of the same university. He has been working as the Director of Editorial Affairs and Logistics. He is also the Director of MMU Library and Information Centers Platform and the director of Kebikeç Seminars.

Burak Arlı
Editorial Affairs and Logistics Expert
[email protected]

Ecem Şentürk
Editorial Affairs and Logistics Officer
[email protected]

Hatice Çetinlerden
Corporate Communications Coordinator
[email protected]

Çetinlerden completed her undergraduate education at Boğaziçi University, Department of English Language and Literature. She is currently working on her master's degree at the Department of Sociology at Istanbul University, in the Urban Studies program. Çetinlerden worked at Campaign Turkey marketing communications magazine as editor, and she has been working at the MMU as Corporate Communications Coordinator since 2014. She is also the editor of the Kent magazine published by MMU.

Emrehan Furkan Düzgiden
Corporate Communications Deputy Coordinator
[email protected]

Büşra İnce
Corporate Communications Expert
[email protected]

Damla Özden
Assistant Corporate Communications Expert
[email protected]

Ezgi Küçük Çalışkan
Urban Planning Coordinator
[email protected]

Çalışkan has been working as the Urban Planning Coordinator in Marmara Municipalities Union (MMU). She is also the director of the City Policy Center (CPC), which conducts scientific research, workshops and activities within the MMU, and is the editor of the City and Society magazine, the periodical publication of Marmara Municipalities Union Culture Publications. She was the program coordinator of Marmara Urban Forum (MARUF) which was organized for the first time in 2019. Çalışkan is a graduate of Izmir Institute of Technology, Faculty of Architecture, Department of Urban and Regional Planning, and has a master's degree from Istanbul Technical University Urban Design Program. She has been continuing her thesis studies in the Urban and Regional Planning Doctorate Program at Istanbul Technical University since 2015. Çalışkan also continues her academic research in Urban Morphology Research Network of Turkey (TNUM) continues. Aside from areas such as urban morphology, property relations, urban design, local government and participation, city indicators and mapping, she is personally interested in graphic design, the art of painting and comic book making.

Samet Keskin
Senior Expert, Urban Policy & Director of Data and Technology Center
[email protected]

Büşra Yılmaz
Urban Policy Expert
[email protected]

İrem Kurtuluş
Urban Policy Expert, Architect
[email protected]

Görsev Argın Uz
Director of Training and Projects
[email protected]

She has been working as Director of Training and Projects at Marmara Municipalities Union and directing Local Government Academy and Management Development Center. She completed her bachelor’s degree in City and Regional Planning and received a master’s degree in Urban Design at Middle East Technical University (METU). She is currently a Ph.D. candidate at Istanbul Technical University (ITU) in Urban and Regional Planning. In her Ph.D. dissertation, she strives to explore the effects of the advances in mobile technologies on walking and urban experience. She worked as a Research/Teaching Assistant at ITU and continued her research as a visiting researcher at KU Leuven (Belgium) in 2018-2019. She is one of the Brussels-based research group collaborators named Alt_Shift* Altering Practices for Urban Inclusion. Her areas of interest are urban design, urban experience, public space, walking, and mapping.

Birgül Gayretli
Training and Projects Deputy Director
[email protected]

Esma Elipek
Training Expert
[email protected]

Ferhat Ümit
Training Expert
[email protected]

Halenur Dönmez
Training and Projects Expert
[email protected]

İskender Güneş
Training Expert
[email protected]

Nazlıcan Akcı
Training and Projects Expert
[email protected]

Selim Pulcu
Training and Projects Expert
[email protected]

Hatice Kübra Baştuğ
Assistant Training and Projects Expert
[email protected]

M. Tarık Şimşek
Training Officer
[email protected]

Gamze Güler
Legal Affairs Coordinator
[email protected]

Güler completed her undergraduate studies at Marmara University Faculty of Law. She started her career as a managing lawyer in a private company before she opened her own law firm and worked as a freelance lawyer. She completed the Master's Program in Public Law at Bahçeşehir University. She works as the Legal Affairs Coordinator in Marmara Municipalities Union.

Mustafa Kabil
Financial Services Director
[email protected]

Mustafa Kabil completed his undergraduate studies at Marmara University Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences. He worked at the Budget and Audit Directorate in Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality. He is currently working as the Financial Services Director in Marmara Municipalities Union.

Duygu Kavak
Financial Services Expert
[email protected]

Sümeyya Merve Çetin Büyük
Financial Services Expert
[email protected]

Melike Öztürk
Human Resources Expert
[email protected]

Burcuhan Şener
International Affairs Director
[email protected]

Şener completed her undergraduate studies in the Department of Political Science and International Relations at Boğaziçi University. She had her master's degree in the field of European Union Studies at Department of International Relations of Leiden University in Netherlands. She conducted academic studies on the European Union and she studied the legal framework and policies of the European Union on immigration and asylum and the European Common Asylum System in her thesis. Şener, who started her career in Marmara Municipalities Union, now works as the International Affairs Director and Director of the Migration Policy Center. She works in the fields of international relations, local diplomacy, migration, asylum, social adaptation and local governments.

Merve Ağca
Senior Expert, International Affairs and Migration Policy
[email protected]

Özge Sivrikaya
Senior Expert, International Affairs and Projects & Sustainable Development Goals Ambassador
[email protected]

Ahmet Cihat Kahraman
Environmental Management Coordinator
[email protected]

Ahmet Cihat Kahraman is the Environmental Management Coordinator of MMU. He worked as a project assistant in rural development projects before his work in Marmara Municipalities Union.
He completed his undergraduate studies in Environmental Engineering at Selçuk University, and simultaneously graduated from of Heat and Energy Major of the Mechanical Engineering Department at the same university. He took his master's degree in Environmental Engineering at Istanbul University with his thesis on the modeling studies on the effective collection and recovery of Electronic Waste. He completed his PhD program at Istanbul University Cerrahpaşa with his dissertation focusing on the analytical determination of environmental management performance of cities with Sustainable Development Goals.
In addition to his academic studies focused on integrated waste management, air quality, water/wastewater management, sustainability and climate change, he also conducts studies on the environmental situation of the Ergene River and Marmara Sea.

Mustafa Özkul
Environmental Management Deputy Coordinator
[email protected]

Yunus Demiryürek
Information Technologies Coordinator
[email protected]

Yunus Demiryürek completed his undergraduate studies at On Dokuz Mayıs University Faculty of Engineering, Department of Computer Engineering. He is currently working as Information Technologies Coordinator in Marmara Municipalities Union.

İbrahim Kerem Ulusoy
Information Technologies Specialist
[email protected]

MMU Sustainable Development Goals Embassy

Özge Sivrikaya
Sustainable Development Goals Ambassador
[email protected]

Özge Sivrikaya completed her undergraduate studies with a double major in Political Science and International Relations & History Departments at Boğaziçi University. She had her master's degree at Aarhus University, Department of Political Science in Denmark. Sivrikaya wrote her thesis on the impact of intergroup threat perception on attitudes of social policy. She started her career as a research assistant at Bilgi University, Department of History. Sivrikaya is currently working as International Affairs and Projects Senior Expert and Sustainable Development Goals Ambassador in Marmara Municipalities Union. Her works are focused on sustainable development, international cooperation, local diplomacy, migration, social policy, and local governments.

M. Cemil Arslan
Secretary General

He completed his undergraduate education at the Public Administration Department of Gazi University Faculty of Economics and Social Studies. He earned his master’s degree from Marmara University Local Governments and Decentralization Program and Beykent University International Economic and Political Business Administration Program. He completed his Ph.D. in Marmara University Local Government and Decentralization Program. He continued post-doctoral studies in the UK. He started his working life in Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality in 1995; he worked as an Auditor, Director of Expenditures, Head of Financial Services Department, member of Executive Committee as well as the Chairman of the Board of Belbim Co., Bimtaş Co., and Istanbul Transportation Co. He has been working as the Secretary General of Marmara Municipalities Union, General Coordinator of MARUF (Marmara Urban Forum), and Chief Editor of “City and Society” and “Urban” magazines.

Management

Management Development Center

Sustainability and Climate Change Center

Data and Technology Center

Urban Policy Center

Migration Policy Center

Local Government Academy

Directorate of Editorial Affairs and Logistics

Department of Corporate Communications

Department of Urban Planning

Directorate of Traning and Projects

Department of Legal Affairs

Directorate of Financial Services

Directorate of International Affairs

Department of Environmental Management

Department of Information Technology

MMU Sustainable Development Goals Embassy

Secretary General