Özlem Çerçioğlu

This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (January 2021) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

You can help expand this article with text translated from the corresponding article in Turkish. (June 2024) Click [show] for important translation instructions. Machine translation, like DeepL or Google Translate, is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into the English Wikipedia. Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article. You must provide copyright attribution in the edit summary accompanying your translation by providing an interlanguage link to the source of your translation. A model attribution edit summary is Content in this edit is translated from the existing Turkish Wikipedia article at [[:tr:Özlem Çerçioğlu]]; see its history for attribution. You may also add the template {{Translated|tr|Özlem Çerçioğlu}} to the talk page. For more guidance, see Wikipedia:Translation.

Özlem Çerçioğlu
Member of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey
In office 14 November 2002 – 30 March 2009
Constituency	Aydın
Mayor of Aydın
Incumbent
Assumed office 30 March 2009
Preceded by	İlhami Ortekin
Personal details
Born	(1968-08-11) 11 August 1968 (age 57) Aydın, Turkey
Political party	Justice and Development Party (2025–present)
Other political affiliations	Republican People's Party (2002–2025)
Spouse	Ercan Çerçioğlu
Children	2
Alma mater	Selçuk University

Özlem Çerçioğlu (born 11 August 1968) is a Turkish politician and had been serving as the mayor of Aydın since 2009. A member of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) since 2025,^[1] she was previously with the Republican People's Party (CHP), where she became Aydın’s first female mayor.^[2]

She was born in Nazilli, a district of Aydın, in 1968. She graduated from Selçuk University in 1988. She served as the member of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey from 2002 to 2009 in 22nd and 23rd legislative terms while she was a member of CHP.^[3] She was elected as Aydın's mayor in 2009, she was re-elected in 2014 as the first mayor of the metropolitan municipality, and then she was re-confirmed in 2019.^[2]

On August 14, 2025, she left the Republican People's Party due to some problems within the party as she said, joined the ruling Justice and Development Party and stated that she wished to serve "under the patronage of Erdoğan."^[1] Çerçioğlu’s resignation from her party of 23 years, where she had served two terms as a member of parliament and four terms as mayor, drew criticism from the provincial and district branches of the Republican People’s Party in Aydın. On the same day, the Republican People’s Aydın Provincial Presidency organized a rally titled “Aydın Stands for Its Will” in front of the Aydın Metropolitan Municipality building to protest her decision.^[4][5] Özgür Özel the leader of CHP stated on Aug 14th 2025 that Çerçioğlu switched her party due to threats by the ruling government and this is "stealing of votes" ^[6]. He said the corruption investigations against several CHP mayors including Çerçioğlu were the reason they transferred to AKP ^[7].