The President of the Aegean Coast Municipalities Union, Aras, said, “We will bring the unions together and provide significant strength.”

The July 2024 Council Meeting of the Aegean Coast Municipalities Union was held in Izmir under the chairmanship of Muğla Metropolitan Municipality Mayor and Aegean Coast Municipalities Union President Ahmet Aras.

The second meeting of the Union’s Council after the new administration took place on Tuesday, July 30, in Selçuk, Izmir. The meeting was hosted by Selçuk Mayor and Vice President of the Union Filiz Ceritoğlu Sengel and was held in the Selçuk City Memory meeting room.

The Council meeting was attended by Kuşadası Mayor Ömer Günel, Çeşme Mayor Lal Denizli, Ayvalık Mayor Mesut Ergin, Dikili Mayor Adil Kırgöz, Tire Mayor Hayati Okuroğlu, Karaburun Mayor İlkay Girgin Erdoğan, Narlıdere Mayor Erman Uzun, Union Secretary General Hurşit Akdemir, and Union Financial Services Director İsmail Ay.

During the meeting, opinions were gathered on steps that could be taken for the union to work more efficiently, the financial problems of municipalities and the measures to be taken for solutions, increasing training in municipalities, and the steps to be taken to regulate the income and expenditures of municipalities.

President Aras stated, “We will strengthen communication both within the union and with other unions.”

Ahmet Aras, President of the Aegean Coast Municipalities Union and Muğla Metropolitan Municipality Mayor, expressed his gratitude to Selçuk Mayor Filiz Ceritoğlu Sengel for her hospitality in his speech before the meeting, saying, “Yesterday, we made an important signature as Muğla Metropolitan Municipality. Signing the European Charter for Gender Equality in Local Life after the Violence Against Women Declaration is an important step for us. Just as in the signatures we have made, we will strive to ensure that our understanding of democracy and communication is realized within the union, making it stronger and more effective. We aim to strengthen communication between unions by sharing our work with other unions and to gain international collaborations. Our primary goal is to bring significant projects to our municipalities through our works with both within the union and other unions. We are ready to take the necessary steps to achieve this.”

Muğla Metropolitan Municipality Mayor and Aegean Coast Municipalities Union President Ahmet Aras pointed out that the priority issues are forest fires and water problems, stating, “Two years ago, we experienced significant forest fires in Muğla and many provinces in Turkey. We lost 8% of our forest assets in Muğla. Recently, there were fires in Selçuk and Kuşadası. During these days when temperatures are above normal, everyone needs to be sensitive about this issue. Litter, bottles thrown in the environment, cigarette butts discarded while walking, and uncontrolled fires are the main causes of these fires. We ask our citizens to be conscious about this issue. We have lost a lot of our forest areas due to the fires experienced in the last few years. In addition to these losses, we are also facing water shortages. Due to the ongoing climate crisis and ecological changes, we are experiencing significant problems with our water resources. And this problem is increasing day by day. It is crucial for our citizens to use water resources efficiently and to pay attention to saving for our future. Our main topics in today’s meeting will be the economy of municipalities, fires, and water issues. We will discuss what we can do as municipalities, how we can create awareness on these issues, and what measures we can implement.”

Aras concluded his speech by saying, “Municipalities have become unmanageable due to their expenses.”

At the end of his speech, Aras stated, “While the revenues of our municipalities are decreasing, their expenses have increased significantly. The current economic situation has made it impossible to manage municipalities. We discussed what we can do as a union regarding this issue and how we can overcome this situation. We will also gather opinions from our union members on this matter. With taxes, social security, and companies, municipalities have started to drift towards a crisis as well. While municipal revenues remain stagnant, expenses continue to rise, yet citizens expect services. We will take the first steps in the coming processes on what we can do to overcome this and what kind of works will be undertaken.”