List of people from Izmir

This is a list of famous people from İzmir, Turkey.

• Rita Abatzi (1914–1969) – Greek rebetiko singer
• Sezen Aksu – Turkish singer–songwriter, musician, record producer; born in Sarayköy, Denizli and raised in central İzmir
• Ekrem Akurgal – Turkish archaeologist born in Tulkarem, explorer of Old Smyrna, Pitane, Phocaea and Erythrai
• Furkan Aldemir – Turkish basketball player
• George K. Anderson – U.S. Air Force general
• Necati Ateş – Turkish soccer player
• Alexander Balas – ruler of the Greek Seleucid kingdom in 150–146 BC
• Édouard Balladur – former French Prime Minister
• Halil Berktay – Turkish historian
• Can Bonomo – Turkish singer of Sephardic Jewish descent; represented Turkey in the Eurovision Song Contest 2012
• Mahir Çağrı – Turkish Internet phenomenon
• Olcay Çakır – Turkish basketball player
• Demetrios Capetanakis (1912–1944) – Greek poet, essayist and critic
• Anton Christoforidis (1918–1985) – Greek light heavyweight boxer
• Hüsamettin Cindoruk – Turkish politician, former party leader and Speaker of the Parliament
• Mehmet Culum – Turkish novelist born in Çeşme who worked in İzmir as an IT specialist
• Necati Cumalı – Turkish novelist born in Florina, raised in nearby Urla
• Meltem Cumbul – actress
• Cybele (1888–1978), Greek actress
• Michel Elefteriades – Greek-Lebanese composer, producer, politician, and Emperor of Nowheristan
• Stéphan Elmas (1862–1937)- Armenian composer and pianist
• Nehir Erdoğan – actress
• Gül Gölge – TV show host, model and actress
• Homer – Greek epic poet
• Attilâ İlhan – Turkish poet, novelist, essayist, journalist, and reviewer
• İsmet İnönü – second President of Turkey
• Irenaeus (2nd–3rd century) – theologian, bishop of Lugdunum
• Sir Alec Issigonis – Greek-British car designer whose most famous work is the Mini
• Manolis Kalomiris (1883–1962) – Greek composer
• Selâhattin Kantar – Turkish archaeologist who pioneered Smyrna excavations
• Semih Kaya – Turkish soccer player
• Vedat Kokona – Albanian writer and translator
• Adamantios Korais (1748–1833) – Greek humanist scholar
• Çağla Kubat – Turkish fashion model
• Alex Manoogian – Armenian-American industrialist; philanthropist; founder and CEO of MASCO Corporation
• Darío Moreno – Turkish-Jewish singer who made a career in France
• James Justinian Morier – British diplomat, traveler and writer
• Magali Noël – French actress and singer
• Metin Oktay – Turkish soccer player
• Aristotle Onassis (1906–1975) – Greek tycoon
• Alpay Özalan – Turkish soccer player
• Onur Özsu – Turkish singer–songwriter, musician
• Leonidas Paraskevopoulos (1860–1936) – Greek military man and politician
• Ambrosios Pleianthidis, metropolitan bishop
• Polycarp – overseer of a Christian congregation
• Giacomo Pylarini – gave the first smallpox inoculation outside of Turkey
• Ahmed Adnan Saygun – Turkish composer, musician and writer
• Giorgos Seferis (1900–1971) – Greek poet; Nobel laureate; born in nearby Urla
• Quintus Smyrnaeus – Greek epic poet
• Yavuz Tatış – private collector
• Yıldız Tilbe – singer
• Tryfon Tzanetis (1918–2001) – Greek footballer and coach
• Bilge Umar – Turkish jurist and writer
• Birsel Vardarlı – Turkish basketball player
• Sabbatai Zevi – self-proclaimed messiah and founder of the community of Sabbateans

References