Ankara City Council is getting ready for the 6th General Assembly

Ankara City Council will hold its General Assembly for the new term on Sunday, July 7th, at the Nazım Hikmet Cultural Center in Yenimahalle. Halil İbrahim Yılmaz, the Chairman of the Executive Board providing information about the General Assembly of Ankara City Council (AKC), stated that in Ankara, a culture of participation where dedications to the city converge with common sense and a shared vision is experienced.

Ankara City Council will hold its General Assembly for the new term on Sunday, July 7th, at the Nazım Hikmet Cultural Center in Yenimahalle. Halil İbrahim Yılmaz, the Chairman of the Executive Board providing information about the General Assembly of Ankara City Council (AKC), stated that in Ankara, a culture of participation where dedications to the city converge with common sense and a shared vision is experienced.

Ankara City Council in Numbers

Yılmaz, who integrated AKC activities with a culture of participation, stated with numbers, “From a structure that nobody knew the name of and what it did five years ago, Ankara City Council has evolved into an organization with over 2,500 components, close to ten thousand volunteers, 28 Working Groups, and 5 separate Councils. In summary, in the past 5 years, with over 100,000 active citizen participations, more than 6,000 meetings and events, nearly 15,000 Council and Working Group volunteers, along with 25 million global interactions, 10 national and 3 international awards were received, and 120 recommendations were made.”

Ankara Without Othering

In his statement, Yılmaz said, “Since the first day we set out, we have never deviated from the principle of ‘Our Name is Ankara, Our Pledge is Common Sense’.” He continued, “We have walked, and are walking, together with everyone who has a say for this city without discriminating against anyone. We listen to each other. While accumulating people for the city, we continue our efforts to leave a more livable city for the future. Alongside the culture of participation, we plan our city with all stakeholders for accountability, open and transparent governance. From sports to culture and tourism, from environment and climate to rural development, from an accessible city to animal rights advocacy, from economic development of a city to socio-cultural interactions, we develop projects, production-oriented activities, and propose solutions to problems in every area of the city. We invite everyone who has this sensitivity and wants to create awareness, regardless of who they are, to come together in this common mindset.”

‘Groups that were said not to come together’

Pointing out that AKC has almost become like a family structure with those who now say ‘My Ankara’, Halil İbrahim Yılmaz concluded his remarks as follows: “Maybe we thought we were exaggerating, but no, we experienced this without exaggeration. So much so that groups that were said not to come together gathered, united for the city, conducted joint works, developed projects, and formed common sense. Indeed, almost all records in history were overturned in this sense. Around such dedication, representatives of 2,500 NGOs, components and members of Ankara City Council are coming together on Sunday, July 7th, to sit at the same table.”