Civilian and political life of Mustafa Recai Güreli (1884-1960)

After declaration of the Republic, local governments had an important place in development and modernization of the country.Because the local change and transformation are important indicators of primarily modernization of country's, and people's after that. The most important civilian authorities to establish this local change and transformation are governors of the specific region.In this sense,after declaration of the Republic, Atatürk have assigned young,dynamic people who are devoted to his principles and revolutions,to the different cities in order to get Anatolia develop in every field. Mustafa Recai Güreli is one of these persons,who have served as a governor in different regions of the country. Recai Güreli first started his duty as a soldier. He came to İstanbul with Hareket Ordusu which suppressed the rebellion of 31 Mart. After the suppression of rebellion,he served as a gendarme commander in different regions of Anatolia and he switched to civil administration and served as a district governor. After being Merzifon,Vezirköprü and Ödemiş district governors,he served in Tokat governorship between 1933-1936, Muğla governorship between 1936-1939 and Balıkesir governorship between 1939-1943. During his governorship, he established the local's economic and cultural development and tried to enlighten them. Local people really liked him because of his work. After his duties as governor he served as a deputy of Gümüşhane (5th term) and Tokat (8th term) as a CHP member.His duties were "Dahiliye encümeni" in 5th term and TBMM Presidency Council's Administrator in 8th term. He carried out works in parliament meetings to find solutions to problems of every segment of society.He defended the benefits of public by acting as a depuy of the whole country,not just a deputy of the region he was elected from. Even though he was a candidate of deputy from Muğla in 1950-1954 and 1957 elections,he couldn't get elected as proportional election system was in use. Mustafa Recai Güreli died on 30.04.1960 in Ankara and he was buried in Cebeci graveyard. Keywords: Governor, Deputy, Mustafa Recai Güreli, Tokat, Muğla