They met with the muhtars of Ortahisar

The first Evaluation and Training Meeting of Muhtars in Ortahisar district, held after the 2024 local elections, took place today at Ortahisar Municipality Multipurpose Hall. Trabzon Governor Aziz Yıldırım, Trabzon Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Ahmet Metin Genç, Trabzon Provincial Police Director Murat Esertürk, Ortahisar District Governor Gürkan Demirkale, Ortahisar Mayor Ahmet Kaya, President of Turkey Muhtars Confederation Bekir Aktürk, General Manager of TİSKİ İbrahim Kul, Ortahisar District Director of Agriculture and Forestry Bülent Bayrak, District Director of National Education Cemil Karakaş, President of Ortahisar Muhtars Association Muhittin Eyüboğlu, and muhtars of Ortahisar attended the meeting. Trabzon Governor Aziz Yıldırım, speaking at the meeting, stated, ‘Our President values muhtars greatly. The budgets of our muhtars have been increased. Insurance premiums are paid by the state. Gun licenses have become free of charge. The institution of muhtar has become more institutionalized.’ Ortahisar District Governor Gürkan Demirkale expressed that they listen to the problems of muhtars firsthand, stating, ‘We document these problems. We convey them to the relevant units. In cases where urgent intervention is needed, we establish connections with the relevant units. We have been conducting this muhtars meeting for two years. It will be an education session where we will both address these issues and provide preliminary information to muhtars on using new digital programs for their administration.’ President of Turkey Muhtars Confederation Bekir Aktürk said, ‘On March 31, our voters entrusted us to serve them. We will embrace and serve everyone, whether they voted for us or not. Work has been done on the new muhtar law. Our President gave instructions on December 28. Hopefully, it will come to the Parliament and be enacted.’ Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Ahmet Metin Genç stated, ‘Just as we were elected as municipal mayors by the will of our people, the 87 muhtars of Ortahisar were also elected to serve by the will of our people. Both our Metropolitan Municipality and Ortahisar Municipality will join hands. We will work to serve our people. We had a very good working period with our muhtars. As a local administration, we have attached importance to respecting the will of the people. Now, as the Metropolitan Municipality, we have not only 87 muhtars but 716 muhtars. Service is what matters, positions come and go. We will work more, strive harder. We did not leave our muhtar friends alone, and we will never leave them alone.’ Ortahisar Mayor Ahmet Kaya also said, ‘In their speeches, the Confederation president touched upon the issue, saying ‘No one has the right to ignore muhtars,’ I fully agree. Our colleagues and unit directors are also here. This issue is also within their knowledge. As Ortahisar Municipality, if we are hammering a nail in a neighborhood, if we are providing even the slightest service, if one of our staff members goes there on behalf of our municipality to provide a service, it is mandatory that they do this work with the knowledge and leadership of our muhtar. I trust our muhtar. By disregarding the muhtar, without the muhtar’s knowledge, we will not provide services to our neighborhoods. Our Muhtarship Director is also here. We gave him this instruction. In every service we will provide in our neighborhoods, our muhtars’ knowledge will be ensured. We will not allow the muhtar to be ignored.’