President Zeyrek met with NGO representatives in Akhisar.

Manisa Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Architect Ferdi Zeyrek met with representatives of civil society organizations in the Akhisar district.

Mayor Ferdi Zeyrek, who meets with citizens every week through his district visits and listens to their issues on-site, visited the Akhisar district this week. At the Akhisar Municipality Council Hall, Mayor Zeyrek met with representatives of civil society organizations, accompanied by Akhisar Mayor Besim Dutlulu and CHP Akhisar District President Hayriye Hacet.

“I am happy to fulfill my promises”

Mayor Zeyrek started his speech by stating that he was happy to keep his promises while meeting with representatives of civil society organizations. Mayor Zeyrek said, “In other provinces we visit and cities of other countries, we have always been the ones to admire. We would experience regrets wishing that Manisa had these services. Since the first day we arrived, we have been making great efforts to ensure that Manisa becomes a city that is admired, not one that admires others. There is a reality of the Republic People’s Party (CHP) municipality in Turkey in terms of social municipality. The biggest reflection of this is social municipality. City Dining Hall has existed in many parts of the country for about 8-10 years, but it was not available in Manisa. Halk Mandra, Halk Bread, there were many services in our municipalities. There were supports for mothers, citizens over 65, and students everywhere in transportation; unfortunately, none of these existed in Manisa. We started the process to create these services. We designated pilot areas for this. We have 400 neighborhoods where the internet and phones do not work. We have designated Akhisar as a pilot area. We are currently providing internet and infrastructure services to 75 neighborhoods. While providing this service for free, we aimed to strengthen the social lives of citizens living there and to prevent migration from rural areas to city centers. Another goal is that we have started a free online tutoring service. We had a target and dream of bringing tutoring services to the young people who have difficulty going to schools. There were 147 neighborhoods without drinking water. We live in this age, and there was no drinking water line laid. As part of the project, we brought drinking water lines to 127 neighborhoods,” he said.

“The aim is to create a common mind for problem-solving”

Recalling that he spends one day of each week in a district, Mayor Zeyrek stated, “The purpose of doing this is to see the problem on-site, to solve it together, and to create a common mind. Unfortunately, there has not been a municipality in Manisa that has been run with a common mind until now. The main purpose of us being together here today is to listen to the problems of Akhisar and you, and to create a common mind regarding solutions. We are creating a common mind in Manisa now. A few months ago, we had a presentation regarding what kind of management style we would have. In this presentation, I said, ‘Come, let’s manage the city together; you should have a share in the city’s management, have an opinion.’ I want to hear your opinions in the management of this city as well. I want to create projects based on these ideas. I know that the point that will illuminate our unity and integrity will be these meetings. We had a bicycle path that started in Akhisar before us. First, we aim to urgently complete this bicycle path and finish the work there, and then conclude the project with the kindergarten that will be built next to the shopping center. We are progressing the project as quickly as possible. We will present it to the service of Akhisar in the upcoming months. One of Akhisar’s biggest problems was the ring road. Together with my president Besim Dutlulu, we made a protocol. We are providing the bitumen; the asphalt is being done by President Besim’s team. After completing the infrastructure of the ring road with joint labor, we want to present it to the service of Akhisar,” he said.

“We are changing the rainwater infrastructure of 3 neighborhoods”

Mayor Zeyrek provided information that work continues to eliminate the negative effects caused by rain in Akhisar. Stating that work is ongoing in 3 neighborhoods, Mayor Zeyrek said, “I know that every rain in Akhisar was a problem; I promised that these would not happen again. Right now, we are changing our rainwater infrastructure projects in 3 neighborhoods. With new bypasses, hopefully, this winter will be a period where flooding is minimized.”

“We discussed the 2025 projects for Akhisar”

Mayor Zeyrek stated that they held meetings regarding the solutions to the problems of Akhisar, saying, “In these meetings, we reached an agreement on many points about what we can do for Akhisar in 2025. We want to further develop these projects by gathering with you here. We want to complete the areas where we are lacking together with you. We are a beautiful family of 1.5 million living in Manisa. Every member of this family has a say, and we all have one common point. That is to make Manisa a livable, exemplary city and to give it the value it deserves. We have no other purpose or goal. While doing these, we do not use our own money. We only spend the taxes paid by all of us, the money entrusted to us by our state, for our people. Every person who works with me knows that with every signature they make, with every glass of water they drink, there is a right and responsibility for the children who walk barefoot in mountain villages. We will protect this right and will always keep it. We will always spend the people’s money for the people. In the past 6 months, there have been restriction measures from the Presidency. Despite these restrictive measures, I look at the past 6 months; I think we have made good progress. While making this progress, people ask where we find the money. We pay salaries with the money coming from our state, we pay for electricity, and water. We try to provide services with the very little money left. We find the money in this way. We are now spending the people’s money not for profit but for the people. For this reason, it is very important for me to be with you. Let’s talk about the real issues and follow each other regarding solutions. Let’s continue our unity. This unity will return to Akhisar as service. Your ideas will return to Akhisar as service,” he said.

Akhisar Chamber of Commerce and Industry President Sami Karaoğlan expressed his satisfaction with the visit of Manisa Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Ferdi Zeyrek. President Karaoğlan said, “We are happy to see our president here again. We are not used to seeing the Metropolitan Mayor very often. Thank you for this.”