CHP's 11 Metropolitan Mayors Warning of Curfew

11 Metropolitan Mayors of CHP warned again in order not to take irreversible steps to combat the COVID-19 outbreak, and to make the right decisions at the right time. The presidents explained that many scientists, urban organizations and their local views as local administrators were either "curfews or full-isolation closure."

Under the Mayor of Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality Ekrem İmamoğlu, Ankara Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Mansur Yavaş, Izmir Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Tunç Soyer, Adana Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Zeydan Karalar, Eskişehir Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Yılmaz Büyükersen, Aydın Metropolitan Mayor Özlem Çerçioğlu, Mayor of Antalya Metropolitan Municipality  Muhittin Böcek, Muğla Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Osman Gürün, Mersin Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Vahap Seçer, Tekirdağ Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Kadir Albayrak, Hatay Metropolitan Mayor Lütfi Savaş signed the statement as follows:

“TO THE INFORMATION OF THE PUBLIC;

Nowadays, when we are struggling with the global epidemic, we are indebted to share our opinions with some of the decisions that are of great importance. As 11 Metropolitan Mayors, we share the following suggestion and call in order not to cause irreversible results and take the right steps at the right time:

• The common opinion of many national and international scientists, many institutions and organizations related to urban life from economy to health, and those who run these cities is “curfew or full-isolation closure”. Before we lose any more time, we draw attention to the need of this application again. Developing the application with alternative models is also necessary in terms of compliance with the characteristic features of the cities. With this decision, we are of the opinion that starting the test process at home and following the quarantine implementation will be effective in slowing down the dispersion rate, as in the examples of the world cities that have taken a serious way.

• Within the scope of combating Covid 19, there are some economic measures that local governments urgently need. The items highlighted below are important for the continuity of municipal services:

1. Credit debts arising from banks and contracts, debts to private and legal entities and public institutions should be postponed for 2020.
2. Increasing the general budget shares and borrowing limits of municipalities
3. In public transportation, it is vital to provide income support by the treasury for the months of April, May and June. In addition, SCT should not be taken from the fuel used in public transportation until it returns to routine transportation activities.
4. Within the scope of the invoices to be postponed for three months, loan procurements must be provided from Iller Bank or Public Banks to these administrations without interest and reimbursement will start after 6 months in order to maintain water and sewerage transactions completely.
5. Due to the risk of the epidemic and how long the epidemic will continue, crowded Assembly meetings cannot be held. For this reason, it should be ensured that assembly meetings can be held remotely online, or delegation of authority to the Council should be considered in order to maintain the functionality of the Municipal Assemblies.
6. For the financing of municipalities' public transportation and social support expenditures, VAT on goods, services and construction works should be limited for at least three months.

• The acceleration and continuity of the ongoing mask distribution system is important. In terms of service range, local administrations are the institutions that have the most intense and organic ties with the public. In this respect, the delivery of protective masks to Metropolitan and district municipalities in proportion to their population and distribution by the municipalities will both speed up and facilitate the access of the public to the service. Municipalities are one of the most valuable institutions of the state that can reach the most capillaries of society in cities. Having decision and enforcement mechanisms is very valuable in practice.

• The pandemic boards set up under the presidency of all Provincial Governorships are described as follows: “They will be responsible for taking all measures to keep the prevention process at the highest level.” We recommend that pandemic boards, which are gathered in periods that can be considered as long periods, meet more frequently in order to ensure fast and effective operation. Another important issue is the transparency principle. It is important for Pandemic Boards in each city to publicly disclose all data related to the Corona Virus in that city to the public. general remarks about Turkey is already routinely performed by the Health Ministry. The routine and transparent disclosure of city-specific data should also be made by the Pandemic Boards.

• We are approaching a very important day, such as the 23th anniversary of the April 100 National Sovereignty and Children's Day, that we will hold firmly to our national values. With the campaign initiated by the President of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, Mr. Mustafa Şentop, we are calling for our National Anthem together at 23 on April 21.00 in the evening. In the 11th year of 100 Metropolitan Municipality, we will work to celebrate April 23 in the most enthusiastic way at home.

• It is also the beginning of the blessed month of Ramadan, which connects April 23 to the morning of April 24. We remind you that our municipalities are one of the most effective and correct addresses in reaching the needy people during Ramadan, which is the month of enlightenment and solidarity. We hope that the days when we will bring our beautiful country to light are close and that no citizen will worry.

Regards."