Osmangazi breeze at the Hessen Day in Germany

Osmangazi Mayor Erkan Aydın made his first overseas visit to the state of Hessen in Germany after being elected as the mayor. Attending the ‘Hessentag 2024 Festival’ held in Hessen, which is the sister city of Bursa, Mayor Aydın conducted important meetings to strengthen the established friendship relations and to establish new collaborations.

At the ‘Hessentag 2024 Festival’ organized by the state of Hessen in Germany, which has been the sister city of Bursa since 2010, Osmangazi and Bursa were well represented. During the festival held in the city of Wetzlar this year, the Turkish-German Days strengthened the brotherhood relations, while Bursa’s promotional stand attracted great interest from both Germans and other foreign guests attending the festival. Osmangazi Municipality Folk Dance Group also made an impact with their performance at the festival. Osmangazi Mayor Erkan Aydın, who attended the festival as an honorary guest, became the center of attention for the Turkish expatriates living in the region.

Great Interest in Bursa’s promotional stand

During the Hessentag Festival, one of the most important events in Europe, Mayor Aydın, who visited Bursa’s promotional stand, was accompanied by Osmangazi Deputy Mayor Sefa Yılmaz, City Council Members Recep Çohan and Feyyaz Alptuğ Memişoğulları. The stand, where Bursa’s symbol, chestnut candy, visual materials of historical and touristic places, and souvenirs were distributed, attracted the most attention with basil seeds. Participants expressed their satisfaction to Mayor Aydın, stating that Osmangazi and Bursa added a different color to the festival.

Enhancing Turkish-German Friendship

Within the framework of the protocol meetings held in the region, Osmangazi Mayor Erkan Aydın met with Karin Müller, the Secretary of State of Hessen, Erdem Tunçer, the Consul General of the Republic of Turkey in Frankfurt, and Meike Schmidt, the Director of the Hessen State Chancellery Office for EU and International Relations, at a dinner held in Fritzlar. Mayor Aydın, pointing out that the established friendship relations will be strengthened through such meetings, said, “Turkish-German friendship dates back many years. Sister city relations are very important in this respect. As Osmangazi Municipality, we attach great importance to sister city relations. We will continue to have mutual meetings to develop friendship relations and establish new collaborations.”

At the end of the visit, Mayor Aydın and State Secretary Karin Müller exchanged gifts as a memory of the day.

Star of the Festival

The group that left a mark on the Hessentag 2024 Festival was the Osmangazi Folk Dance Group. Performing at Treffpunkt Hessen (Hessen Meeting Point), the Osmangazi Folk Dance Group won the admiration of the audience with their show. The Osmangazi Folk Dance Group, which stayed on stage for about 1 hour, especially drew great interest from foreign guests with their show named ‘Step by Step Turkey,’ while also evoking emotional moments for the Turks living in the region. At the end of their performance, the Osmangazi Folk Dance Group teams unfurled the Turkish flag on stage, somewhat soothing the longing for homeland of the expatriate citizens.

Following the performance by Osmangazi Municipality Folk Dance Group, Mayor Erkan Aydın took the stage amidst applause and said, “This is my first visit to the sister city of Bursa, Hessen. I was elected as the mayor just two months ago and my first overseas visit was to Hessen. Bursa and the city of Darmstadt in Germany have been sister cities for over 50 years. We have had a sister city relationship with the state of Hessen since 2010. We are here today as Osmangazi Municipality to further advance these sisterhood relations. I hope that we can organize similar German-Turkish days in Bursa and Osmangazi. We have initiated efforts for this. I thank you for inviting us to this beautiful festival and for your wonderful hospitality. I also congratulate the Osmangazi Municipality Folk Dance Group for their wonderful performances.”