Mayor Gürkan: If You Show Unity, This City Will Last Forever

Malatya Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Selahattin Gürkan, talking about his 20-year term as mayor, said, “The important thing is to experience in your inner world that you are conscientiously consoled, that you are performing your duty with a clear forehead and a bright face, without getting tired, overwhelmed, or stained, where you work.” I served as mayor for 20 years and as a public officer in Malatya for 20 years. I fulfilled duties such as teaching, district national education directorate, inspector, regional directorate and provincial directorate. During the time we worked, we did not knowingly do anything wrong, unfair or unjust to anyone. "We have always tried to do our duties with the voice of our conscience and the belief of the fear of God Almighty," he said.

'WE NEVER SET SMALL GOALS, WE ALWAYS SET BIG GOALS'

Mayor Gürkan continued his speech, “Malatya is truly a different city. We never set small goals while working. We always set big goals. Maybe those who work with us or listen to us may have found our words too assertive. When we realize our responsibility towards history, the result becomes fruitful. You are sure that Shahrul is where human civilization began, so your goal cannot be small. Our second sentence is the Epic City that Made Anatolia the Homeland. The conquest process of Anatolia started from Malatya sanjak. If you pay attention, we have always stated that an exemplary municipality approach for Turkey is a service approach.

There is not the slightest damage to any of the buildings we have built or licensed during our 20-year term as mayor. We did not give building permits for more than 5 floors. We stated that buildings with a standard plan and above 5 floors should have a basement, and buildings above 6-7 floors should have a second basement, and we stated the load-bearing and characteristics of the basements. We stated that elevator cabins should also be built in the form of carrier columns. This is not a coincidence and there is no example in Turkey. You will be the mayor for 20 years, you will be in the region of two earthquakes with a magnitude above 7, and nothing will happen to any of the buildings you built. During the February 6 earthquake, we turned all the buildings we built into shelters and shelters. This is not a coincidence. They have talked about the wagon factory for 40 years. Now, nothing is being discussed about the wagon factory, the Yimpaş building, the Şire Market, or the Wheat Market. Apricots increased from $1.7 to $6.5. It currently has an input of 650 million dollars. It has not exceeded 200-250 million dollars so far. Apricot integrated facility means Malatya becomes 10 times richer. We did these projects.

''BE UNITED, BE BIG, BE ALIVE'

I request you not to disrupt your unity and solidarity in this city. Be one, be big, be alive. We need sane, decent people in this country. If you destroy the demographic structure and sociological structure of our city, we will all be poor and strange in this city tomorrow. May God prepare this city for the future, worthy of its past. "Hopefully, if you show this example of unity, solidarity and solidarity, this city will survive forever, and I thank you all."