11 Mayors of the CHP, who come together at regular intervals, came together in Aydın. Addressing the Government in a joint statement, the Presidents drew attention to the Russia-Ukraine War, the food crisis and the disruptions experienced in responding to forest fires last year. In the joint statement, “As 11 Metropolitan Municipalities, we urgently invite the Government to organize a national consultation meeting, including our municipalities, in order to solve the growing food crisis in our country. We state that an urgent meeting should be held with the relevant institutions against forest fires, and we underline once again that we are open to all kinds of cooperation. Our nation is already celebrating the blessed month of Ramadan; We wish it to bring abundance, blessings, happiness and goodness.
Mayors of Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir, Adana, Eskişehir, Aydın, Antalya, Muğla, Mersin, Tekirdağ and Hatay Metropolitan Municipalities met in Aydın. Following the meeting, the following statement was made:
“We came together this time in Aydın, the Land of Efeler, for our regular meetings as Metropolitan Mayors. At the Aydın meeting, current developments in agriculture, especially in the last period of pandemic, war, climate crisis and price increase in food, energy and petroleum products, were evaluated, and the works that our Metropolitan Municipalities have done and will do in order to prevent the food supply problem that is expected to be experienced in the coming years.
In the past 3 years, our Metropolitan Municipalities have achieved significant success in the field of rural development; support of women's cooperatives and all agricultural development cooperatives, contracted production, grant supports and livestock in the fields of our producers. In the meeting, the will of our institutions to act together in the works to be done to increase the support in rural development and the diversity of products and methods in these supports was emphasized.
Many countries and Turkey are facing a food crisis due to both the climate crisis and the war. As 11 Metropolitan Municipality, we urgently invite the government to organize a national consultation meeting, including our municipalities, in order to resolve the growing food crisis in our country.
Especially in coastal areas, big forest fires were experienced last year, and it was observed that those responsible for responding to these fires and coordination did not have sufficient equipment. Our Metropolitan Municipalities have made us feel closely that local governments stand by our citizens in case of fires and natural disasters. The joint works of our Metropolitan Municipalities against forest fire disasters before the upcoming summer months were evaluated and a joint decision was made that the works of the "Forest Science Board", which was activated last year, will be closely followed. We state that an urgent meeting should be held with our Municipalities, Governorships, Ministry of Forestry officials and relevant institutions, and we underline once again that we are open to all kinds of cooperation.
In the meeting, evaluations were made about transportation, education, informatics projects and women's participation in employment. Our Metropolitan Municipalities implement long-term investments, infrastructure works, large-scale transportation and environmental projects to make our cities more livable.
Our Metropolitan Municipalities will make maximum efforts to keep the resistance points high in water, transportation, bread prices and social aids, despite the difficult economic conditions and rising costs. As the 11 Metropolitan Mayors, we underline once again: The central government, not the local governments, is responsible for the tariff changes made or to be made due to the current economic conditions. Government officials need to cover the exchange rate-related losses of the municipalities, as well as work to increase their revenues to the same extent against the increased expense items.
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