Mayor of Izmir Metropolitan Municipality Tunç Soyermet with the representatives of non-governmental organizations in the city once again after the earthquake disaster. Speaking at the meeting where the activities carried out in the region since the first day of the earthquake and the measures taken against a possible earthquake in İzmir were explained, the President Tunç Soyer“Only with common sense and solidarity, it is possible for us to deal with the possibilities of great disaster,” he said.
Mayor of Izmir Metropolitan Municipality Tunç Soyermet with civil society representatives with the earthquake agenda at the coordination meeting with wide participation at Ahmed Adnan Saygun Art Center. Çanakkale Mayor Ülgür Gökhan, İzmir Metropolitan Municipality Secretary General Barış Karcı, İzmir Metropolitan Municipality Deputy Secretary General Şükran Nurlu, Suphi Şahin and representatives of many non-governmental organizations attended the meeting.
Soyer: “Osmaniye is the place where we will maintain a lasting relationship”
Expressing that they will continue these meetings, İzmir Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Tunç SoyerAFAD said that while the search and rescue efforts started, AFAD matched Osmaniye with İzmir and they will work to bring Osmaniye back to its feet. President Soyer said, “We need to maintain much stronger and organized support to Osmaniye. There are over a thousand deaths. More than 250 buildings have been destroyed, and 700 buildings are heavily damaged and uninhabitable and must be demolished immediately. In addition to Osmaniye, we will continue to maintain our presence in Hatay, Adıyaman and Kahramanmaraş in other regions. But we think Osmaniye is the place where we will continue our permanent relationship. The healing process of wounds in Osmaniye; It will take months, years, but there is more. Agriculture, tourism, industry, tradesmen are over. They will need serious support to bring them to life. We have a lot to do in that region, for example, about agriculture. İzmir has assumed a leadership in agriculture in Turkey and is taking many steps in this regard, and we have a lot to do about Osmaniye villages. This is one of our goals from now on. We want to cooperate with you to maintain sustainable and lasting relations with Osmaniye.”
“There are two main reasons for our cooperation”
Stating that there are two main reasons for the meetings, Mayor Soyer said, “If we combine our strength, resources and energy, we can carry out the organization in a disaster in İzmir with an inclusiveness that will spread it to the capillaries of the entire city. We hope to continue this cooperation, which started due to earthquake emergency aid, on these two main axes. Sustainable and permanent support to Osmaniye, to be able to mobilize all of İzmir's power there in the rebuilding of Osmaniye, and secondly, to organize together what we can do in case of disaster, at the point of İzmir's earthquake preparedness. We want to continue this cooperation for these two foundations.”
“Reconstruction amnesty and peace should be prevented in the Constitution”
Saying that the state should support the efforts to create earthquake-resistant cities, Soyer said, “Izmir Metropolitan Municipality will allocate 10 percent of its budget to make this city an earthquake-resistant city. We make the same request to the government. We think that they should give as much as we allocate for this city. This is not enough either… Regulations made under the name of zoning amnesty and peace should be prevented in the Constitution and no authority or government should be allowed to make regulations under the name of zoning amnesty or peace.”
“It is not made for show”
Emphasizing unity and solidarity in the face of the disasters, President Soyer said, “These are show meetings, not just for show. We were very hurt. From now on, we should try to find the right answers together for whatever we need to do in order not to pay such a heavy price in a similar disaster in İzmir and to avoid heavy victimization. We all live in this city, we all share the same fate actually. We should communicate much better with each other. We should listen to each other much better. It is only possible to deal with the possibilities of great disaster with a common mind and solidarity," he said.
Gökhan: “We want to benefit from your experience”
Çanakkale Mayor Ülgür Gökhan said, “Our fire department acted together with your fire department in Adıyaman and Hatay. They protected our friends. Thank you very much. We follow Izmir constantly. We examined the construction laboratory of Egeşehir in Çiğli. We will set up the same. You know the earthquake zone in Çanakkale. We would like to benefit from your experience in your Halk Konut project, which you have implemented through cooperatives," he said.
“Iskenderun was little Izmir”
Funda Müftüoğlu, a doctor who volunteered to search and rescue during the earthquake, said, “We set out for 3 mountaineer friends in the earthquake zone. We were on the road for 6 hours. Among the vehicles accompanying us, the Izmir Fire Brigade, Izmir Metropolitan Municipality aid vehicles and trucks were the most. In your person, I would like to thank the Izmir Metropolitan Municipality and all the people of Izmir who provided assistance. I saw a lot of Izmir in Iskenderun. Iskenderun was small Izmir. İzmir showed that there is a great İzmir with its own name.”
“Our existence is the same as your existence”
Hatay Social Culture, Assistance and Solidarity Foundation President Vecih Fakıoğlu said, “Shortly after the first day of the earthquake, our president gathered non-governmental organizations. I am so happy to live in Izmir that your presence is the same as our presence there. In terms of projects, support can only be given with such beautiful projects.”