Solidarity of Progressive Municipalities
2023 Kahramanmaraş Earthquake Disaster

On February 6th 2023, two major earthquakes of magnitude 7.7 and 7.6 took place in Kahramanmaraş, Türkiye. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the number of people hit by the earthquake is 26 million.

Emergency Support Campaigns

Latest Tweets from Chairperson of SODEM

About SODEM

Founded in 2011, the Association of Social Democratic Municipalities (SODEM) has 94 members, representing a population of approximately 23 million people across Türkiye.

SODEM aims to advance the political, social, cultural, economic, and technical dialogue between its member municipalities and their counterparts from Europe and from all around the world.

The activities of SODEM can be listed under 4 categories:

Creating a common platform for cooperation by establishing new communication channels among its members and with other stakeholders;
Developing and conducting political, social, and cultural dialogue with all the relevant institutions at the national and international levels; establishing and conducting strategic partnerships and networks for cooperation; carrying out joint actions, mobilizing resources together with partners from the EU and Türkiye.

Supporting and advocating the objectives of its member municipalities: Representing, promoting, and communicating the priorities, perspectives, and preferences of its members, both in Türkiye and on international platforms.

Providing services that enhance the performance of its member municipalities: Transferring knowledge and experiences, benchmarking best practices, engaging with the solutions and products offered by the EU cooperation structure, and localizing them; in order to increase efficiency and develop institutional capacity.

Representation at the international and European levels: Establishing a political, economic, social, and cultural dialogue between member municipalities and their international/EU counterparts; monitoring, evaluation, information sharing, representation, promotion, and communication activities at the EU level.

Board of Directors

TUNÇ SOYER

Chairperson of SODEM
Mayor of Izmir Metropolitan Municipality

RECEP GÜRKAN

Treasurer, Board Member
Mayor of Edirne Municipality - Provincial Municipality

CEMİL TUGAY

Board Member
Mayor of Karşıyaka Municipality - District of Izmir

BİRSEN ÇELİK

Board Member
Mayor of Bozkurt Municipality - District of Denizli

ALİ KILIÇ

Board Member
Mayor of Maltepe Municipality - District of Istanbul

ALİ ORKUN ERCENGİZ

Board Member
Mayor of Burdur Municipality - Provincial Municipality

GÖKHAN YÜKSEL

Board Member
Mayor of Kartal Municipality - District of Istanbul

RIZA AKPOLAT

Board Member
Mayor of Beşiktaş Municipality - District of Istanbul

ŞERDİL DARA ODABAŞI

Board Member
Mayor of Kadıköy Municipality - District of Istanbul

TANJU ÖZCAN

Board Member
Mayor of Bolu Municipality - Provincial Municipality

ŞÜKRÜ GENÇ

Board Member
Mayor of Sarıyer Municipality - District of Istanbul

ONUR ERYÜCE

Secretary-General of SODEM

Contact Us

Get in touch

Location:

Osmanağa Mah. Halitağa Cad. Şadırvan Apt. A Blok No:28 D:4 34714 Kadıköy/İstanbul

Email:

bilgi@sodem.org.tr

Call:

+90 (0) 532 544 03 40