Barbaros Büyüksağnak
Head of Foreign Relations Department
Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality
Born in Istanbul in 1965, Barbaros Büyüksağnak completed his primary and secondary education in Beşiktaş and graduated from the Naval Academy in 1987. Following his graduation from the Naval War College in 2000 and becoming a staff officer after serving as branch officer and department head on destroyers and frigates in the Navy, Büyüksağnak served in Ankara, within the Operations Department of Naval Forces Command and at the European Maritime Forces Headquarters in Rome, Italy. Later on, he served as the Executive Officer of TCG Karadeniz, Commanding Officer of TCG Muavenet frigates and Commodore of the II. Destroyer Squadron in Aksaz Naval Base. He represented the Turkish Armed Forces during his 2-year duty as the Oslo Military Attaché in Norway, and he studied especially on the Svalbard Islands as the developments in the Arctic attracted his attention. Having completed his master’s degree at the Institute of Marine Sciences and Management at Istanbul University in 2002, Büyüksağnak became an expert in Marine Policy and retired from the Navy in early 2015 at his own request. He worked as the Deputy Director General at Keyline Co. Ltd. in the logistics industry for one year, and since 2016 he has been giving logistics and maritime courses as a Lecturer and Oceangoing Master at Pîrî Reis University. He continues his PhD dissertation on the Arctic Region in the Maritime Transportation and Management Engineering doctorate program of the same university. He participated in the first Turkish Arctic Scientific Expedition to the Svalbard Islands in 2019. He is also one of the coordinators of the Logistics Education Standards (LES) project launched in 2016 to determine the minimum common points among the universities providing logistics education in Turkey and the related basic vocational courses and their contents in line with the needs of the logistics industry. Büyüksağnak, who served as the Head of the Department of Strategy Development at IMM for two years between March 2021 – March 2023, has continued his duties as the Head of the Foreign Relations Department since November 2022. He also serves as the Permanent Secretary of the B40 Balkan Cities Network. A member of the Hamit Naci Mavi Vatan Foundation, Koç University Maritime Forum (KUDENFOR), Bosphorus Marine Culture Environment and Sports Platform, Logistics Association (LODER), Science and Advisory Board of ANKA Institute and Beşiktaş Club Council Board, Büyüksağnak is married with one child.
Fahri Murat Tuncay
Director of Foreign Relations
He was born in 1983. After receiving his education at the Department of Management of Dokuz Eylül University, he graduated as the top student from the Department of Political Science and Public Administration of Kocaeli University. Following his undergraduate studies, he completed his master’s degree at the Capital Market Specialization program of Istanbul University. He started his business life in private sector, and he was appointed as an officer at the Directorate of Almshouse of Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality in 2007. At the Directorate of Foreign Relations where he started working in 2010, he served as a Chief, Deputy Director and Director respectively until March 2020.
He organized the hosting programs of many foreign delegations visiting Istanbul and our institution, including at the level of Head of State, and conducted the program organization and planning of delegations visiting foreign countries, notably at the level of Mayor. He actively participated in the organization of many international meetings in Istanbul, including The Fourth United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries, UN World Humanitarian Summit and UNESCO World Heritage Committee, as well as representing the Municipality at events in foreign countries. He continued his duty at the Directorate of EU Relations in 2021, and received various training in the UK while working in several charities. In October 2022, he was appointed as the Deputy Director of Foreign Relations, and in November 2022, he was appointed as the Acting Director of Foreign Relations. He is proficient in English and speaks Greek at the beginner level.
Duties and Working Areas of the Foreign Relations Directorate
- Carrying out the activities of the Directorate in line with the targets set out in the Metropolitan Municipality strategic plan and annual programmes,
- Ensuring that the activities to be carried out by the Metropolitan Municipality in the EU accession process are in compliance with the plans and programmes to be prepared,
- Carrying out studies to ensure that the activities carried out by the Metropolitan Municipality units, affiliated organisations and subsidiaries and district municipalities are in compliance with the EU acquis,
- Ensuring coordination in the activities of the institutions, organisations and subsidiaries of the Metropolitan Municipality in order to benefit from national and international funds,
- Doing research and examining national and international examples of good practices, to participate in organisations, carrying out studies on the EU acquis concerning local governments and to ensure coordination on the subject,
- Carrying out index searches in national and international field,and carrying out studies within the framework of the EU on issues related to local governments in the indexes and to ensure coordination,
- Performing activities for all kinds of internal and external publicity on issues within the scope of the Directorate’s duties,
- Carrying out studies for research and strategic cooperation with district municipalities, non-governmental organisations, municipal and local administration unions, other public institutions, universities and the private sector on issues within the scope of the Directorate. Executing joint studies that will ensure coordination with international institutions on these issues,
- Realizing other duties required by the legislation.
Dr. Ali Doğanay
Director of EU Relations
He was born in 1981 in Zile. He completed his primary, secondary and higher education in Istanbul. He served in the Turkish Armed Forces Personnel class for 14 years in various headquarters and institutions. In 2016, he voluntarily left the Turkish Armed Forces and was appointed to Beylikdüzü Municipality and worked in the Directorate of Financial Services and Directorate.of Human Resources and Training. In 2019, he was transferred to Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality and worked as the founding manager of the Regional Employment Offices project. He holds a doctorate degree and teaches undergraduate and graduate courses at the Department of Business Administration and the Department of Political Science and Public Administration. He received doctoral-level courses in International Relations and International Security Strategies on US Foreign Policy and European Integration. He has published articles in the field of organisational behaviour in many scientific refereed journals. He has given training and seminars on communication, motivation, career management, leadership and management in events organised by institutions and organisations. As of 06 August 2020, Dr. Ali DOĞANAY was appointed as the manager of EU Relations Directorate and speaks English and German.
Duties and Working Areas of the EU Relations Directorate
- Carrying out the activities of the Directorate in line with the targets set out in the Metropolitan Municipality strategic plan and annual programmes,
- Ensuring that the activities to be carried out by the Metropolitan Municipality in the EU accession process are in compliance with the plans and programmes to be prepared,
- Carrying out studies to ensure that the activities carried out by the Metropolitan Municipality units, affiliated organisations and subsidiaries and district municipalities are in compliance with the EU acquis,
- Ensuring coordination in the activities of the institutions, organisations and subsidiaries of the Metropolitan Municipality in order to benefit from national and international funds,
- Doing research and examining national and international examples of good practices, to participate in organisations, carrying out studies on the EU acquis concerning local governments and to ensure coordination on the subject,
- Carrying out index searches in national and international field,and carrying out studies within the framework of the EU on issues related to local governments in the indexes and to ensure coordination,
- Performing activities for all kinds of internal and external publicity on issues within the scope of the Directorate’s duties,
- Carrying out studies for research and strategic cooperation with district municipalities, non-governmental organisations, municipal and local administration unions, other public institutions, universities and the private sector on issues within the scope of the Directorate. Executing joint studies that will ensure coordination with international institutions on these issues,
- Realizing other duties required by the legislation.
