Industry and Technology Minister Mustafa Varank said, “The success we have achieved in the Olympics, gymnastics and traditional sports are the results of the vision we have put forward in sports in 20 years. We believe that these successes will continue exponentially.” said.
Minister Varank, in his speech at the "Bursa Metropolitan Belediyespor Club Successful Athletes Award Ceremony" held at the Merinos Atatürk Congress and Culture Center Hüdavendigar Hall, said that Turkey's Automobile project created a great excitement in the nation and the nation was proudly following this work. Emphasizing that the nation follows the achievements of the athletes with the same enthusiasm, Varank expressed that the citizens are happy with the degrees that young athletes have won in international competitions. Varank explained that they are trying to implement youth and sports policies in order to support sports and athletes, in a way that will lead more young people to the right path and direct them to sports.
Stating that the recent successes, especially in individual branches, show how accurate their work is, Varank said, “These things do not happen on their own. One thing we need to know. We have a sports-friendly, sports-friendly President who is also an athlete. I have known many people, but I have not come across many people who follow football so closely, know the teams and players, and are so interested in football. Our President is interested in every branch of sports, especially football. We play basketball together. He loves sports and athletes very much. For this reason, he follows the works done in the field of sports in Turkey, together with the Minister.” he said.
Varank stated that they have been trying to complete the lack of infrastructure in Turkey for 21 years in order to develop sports, to direct young people to sports and to train successful athletes. Noting that they built thousands of sports facilities, pools, gyms, and carried out screening activities to direct young people to sports, Varank continued his words as follows:
“We can see the results of that now. The number of pools in Turkey has increased 20 times in 13 years, the number of gyms has tripled. While only our Ministry of Youth and Sports had 3 sports facilities in 2002, there are currently close to 1575 sports facilities created by itself. The number of sports facilities that have been implemented in the last 4 years with public investments has now reached 500 thousand. You can see the facilities we have built with our municipality and the Ministry of Youth and Sports in the center and districts of Bursa. It is not possible to achieve success in sports without this infrastructure, and it is not possible to direct young people to these fields. After completing these infrastructures, giving the necessary value to the athlete and working with the right professionals, these successes continue to come. The successes we have achieved in the Olympics, gymnastics and traditional sports are the results of the vision we have put forward in sports in 20 years. We believe that these successes will continue exponentially.”
Varank stated that the "Poyraz's Girls" Bursa Metropolitan Belediyespor handball team, which is the pride of Bursa, will be the pride of not only this city but also Turkey with international successes in the future.
At the ceremony, Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Alinur Aktaş and Bursa Metropolitan Belediyespor Club President Gökhan Dinçer also addressed the participants.
National taekwondo player Hatice Kübra İlgün, who won a bronze medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, asked the Minister Varank's permission to tour with Turkey's car, Togg, which she used as an official vehicle.
Minister Varank did not break İlgün's request and gave the Cappadocia colored Togg T10X to the national athlete to use for a while in Merinos Park after the program.
Successful athletes received their awards from Varank and protocol members. Hatice Kübra İlgün also presented the national uniform to Minister Varank.
The athletes and their families attended the ceremony.