Tarkan Oktay

Tarkan Oktay graduated from the Department of Public Administration at the Faculty of Political Sciences, Istanbul University, in 1995. He completed his master’s degree (1998) and PhD (2005) in the Department of Local Governments at Marmara University.

In 2005, Oktay began his academic career as a faculty member in the Local Governments Program at Marmara University and, in 2011, joined the Department of Political Science and Public Administration at Istanbul Medeniyet University. He was awarded the title of associate professor in 2012 and full professor in 2017, and he continues his academic work at the same university. Oktay has taken part in numerous projects and advisory boards related to municipalities and has also served as a member of the Presidential Local Government Policies Council.

His main areas of research include local government reform design and core policies, local councils, political participation, metropolitan governance, strategic planning, youth services, sister cities, institutional capacity building, and the history of local governments.