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Dilek İmamoğlu
Wife of the mayor of Istanbul From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Dilek Kaya İmamoğlu (born 10 November 1974)[1] is the wife of Ekrem İmamoğlu, the mayor of Istanbul and the Republican People's Party (CHP) presidential nominee for 2028.
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Early life and education
Dilek Kaya was born on 10 November 1974 in Vakfıkebir in Trabzon Province.[1] Although it was claimed that she was the youngest child in a family of ten siblings,[2] it was denied by their daughter first and in another interview Kaya herself made it clear that she had three siblings. After graduating in Public Finance from Anadolu University,[2] she pursued a master's degree in business administration at Kadir Has University and completed her master's degree at Istanbul Arel University in 2016.[3][4] In 2022, she completed her doctoral study at Istanbul Arel University, which examined "the leadership expectations of Millennials, the impact of democratic and autocratic leadership styles on integrated development".[5][6][7] She became a lecturer in social responsibility at Istanbul Arel University.[8]
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Activism
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Dilek İmamoğlu, accompanied by Semra Çetinkaya, Vice President of the Spinal Cord Paralytics Association of Turkey, traveled around Istanbul in a wheelchair for a day "to feel the difficulties experienced by the disabled and to raise awareness".[9] In 2014, she won the Şükrü Sürmen Award by the Spinal Cord Paralytics Association of Turkey for her "awareness raising activities for disabled people".[10]
She played a prominent role in the protests following her husband’s arrest in 2025.[11]
Istanbul municipal elections
On 31 March 2019, during the Istanbul mayoral elections, posts were shared on social media comparing her photos with Semiha Yıldırım, the wife of AK Party candidate Binali Yıldırım.[12] She said: "I don't think such posts are well-intentioned. If they think they are insulting or flattering, they should know that they are insulting me too. Because when I look at Ms. Semiha Yıldırım's photo, I see my own mother, my own sister. This is their preference. Therefore, I do not find this post in good faith at all."[12] Semiha Yıldırım thanked Dilek for this response.[13]
Women's rights
In October 2019, İmamoğlu was featured on the cover of Madame Figaro Turkey under the title "First Lady of Istanbul".[14] In January 2020, Dilek İmamoğlu, together with Selvi Kılıçdaroğlu, the wife of CHP Chairman Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, attended the theater event of the book 'Devran' written by former HDP Chairman Selahattin Demirtaş. The meeting was criticized by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Nationalist Movement Party Chairman Devlet Bahçeli.[15][16]
In August 2020, Imamoğlu posted a video on her social media account in support of the Istanbul Convention with the hashtag "#IstanbulCovenantLives".[17] For the International Day of the Girl Child in October 2020, Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality introduced a book titled Brave Girls' Companions (Turkish: Cesur Kızlara Yol Arkadaşları), written by Aslıhan Dağıstanlı Aysev, featuring the stories of 30 Turkish women.[18] In 2024 she wrote a book about the difficulties faced by businesswomen.[2]
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Personal life
On 18 November 1995, Dilek Kaya married Ekrem İmamoğlu and the couple have three children, Mehmet Selim (b. 1997), Semih (b. 2005) and Beren (b. 2011).[19][20]
References
External links
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