Speaking at the closing session of the Peace Pioneer Mediterranean Mayors Forum held in Florence, Izmir Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Tunç Soyeremphasized the mutually nurturing cultures of Mediterranean cities and peace. Soyer said, “As Atatürk, the founder of the Turkish Republic, said, “Peace at Home, Peace in the World” should be our motto. And we must shout it louder and louder. We need peace. The Mediterranean is a very good example to show the whole world that this is possible.”
Speaking at the closing session of the Pioneer of Peace Mediterranean Mayors Forum in Florence, attended by the mayors of the Mediterranean, the Mayor of Izmir Metropolitan Municipality Tunç Soyeremphasized the importance of local governments, cities and municipalities in the world. He said that coping with global crises and wars starts locally. Explaining the value of peace to increase welfare and develop the economy and ecology together, Soyer said, “We can deal with global crises and wars, starting from the local. The climate crisis and the problem of hunger can be solved locally in the most effective way. Cities don't fight each other. Because cities have no armies, no commanders. "We only have peace to increase prosperity and improve our economy and ecology together," he said.
Our guide Atatürk
Emphasizing the need for peace, Soyer said, “Our differences in the Mediterranean region constitute our wealth. Despite our religious beliefs and national differences, our cultural similarities are our common denominator. We can find the reason that unites us much more than the reasons that divide us in our common culture. For this reason, we must very strongly own and protect the common culture. We must loudly shout our need for peace. As Atatürk, the founder of the Turkish Republic, said: “Peace at Home, Peace in the World” should be our motto. And we must shout it louder and louder. We need peace. We need peace. We need peace. The Mediterranean is a very good example to show the whole world that this is possible.”
Mayors of the Mediterranean made a “Circular Culture Call”
The concept of cyclical culture, defined by İzmir at the World Culture Summit in September 2021, took its place in the final declaration of the Mediterranean Forum of Mayors. The Presidents of all the major cities of the Mediterranean signed the call for a cyclical culture for harmony with nature and our past. Speaking at the closing session where the Florence Declaration was evaluated, Soyer said: “The word Anatolia means its home country. Smyrna, İzmir is the name of an Amazon queen. We are both proud and fortunate that our local culture sees the world through the eyes of mothers and women. This culture has also spread all over the Mediterranean. We have a lot in common; Whether we belong to different religions, different beliefs, different ethnic origins, different nationalities, we have a similar culture because we live around the Mediterranean. Our common culture, the cyclical culture, is underlined in the Florence Declaration.”
Circular culture is the basis of shared values and life
Addressing the importance of cyclical culture in the session, Chairman Soyer said that cyclical culture rises on four pillars: harmony with each other, harmony with our nature, harmony with the past and harmony with change. Stating that these four pillars, which he defines as cyclical culture, are the basis of common values and the basis of common life, President Soyer said:
“Harmony with the past means that we cannot build a future without knowing the past. As Homer said, "There is nothing left unsaid on the earth". So everything is already said. So we must understand what was said and what was achieved. Therefore, we must be in harmony with our past. Harmony with each other means democracy. It is the secret of living together. That's why we need to remember how to achieve coexistence and the value of democracy. Harmony with nature is the third pillar. Unfortunately, we felt as if we had a superior power over our nature, and we lived that way. And we destroyed our nature very easily. And we made an effort to create another ecosystem. But unfortunately this is not possible, because we are part of nature. Now is the time to realize this and it is time to live in harmony with nature again. Last but not least, alignment with change is the fourth pillar. Because otherwise, we continue to live with dogmas and ideologies. But we must make room for innovations and creative ideas and create opportunities. I am sure that by using this culture as a leverage to our communities and people, we will be able to show the rest of the world that peace is possible again. We will be able to show that it is possible to protect our nature. And together we will be able to show that it is possible to live in peace. For this reason, I would like to thank all the organizers and the Mayor of Florence again, and I hope that we can send the message from Florence to the world that peace is possible.”
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