The Classic Car Festival was organized in cooperation with Isparta Municipality and Turkish Classic Mercedes Lovers Club. 800 automobile and 3 thousand classic car enthusiasts from different cities met in Isparta. Stating that they see the 3 thousand guests who came to the city for the festival as tourism ambassadors of Isparta, Mayor Şükrü Başdeğirmen said, “It is very nice to see the vehicles we dreamed of in our childhood here. "Our 3 thousand guests will leave Isparta, the rose-scented city of Anatolia, the land of fruits and lavender, with wonderful memories," he said.
Isparta Governor Aydın Baruş, Mayor Şükrü Başdeğirmen, representatives of non-governmental organizations, classic car enthusiasts and citizens attended the Classic Car Festival hosted by Isparta Municipality at Gökkubbe Fair and Congress Center. While the opening ribbon of the festival was cut by the protocol, a mehter band performance was performed.
Making the opening speech of the Classic Car Festival, Turkish Classic Mercedes Lovers Club Founder Murat Karakaya said that they founded the club 2 years ago and completed their organization in 52 provinces. Stating that they have 15 thousand members, Karakaya noted that the festival was held in a very nice atmosphere this year with the support of Isparta Municipality. Karakaya said, “With 800 vehicles and 3 thousand guests, we broke both our own record and the Turkish record. Passion for classics is not something that happens by chance. "We would like to thank all our guests who participated, our governor and our mayor for being with us," he said.
Saying 'Welcome to Isparta, the Land of Roses, Lakes and Fruits' to the guests coming from different cities for the Classic Car Festival, Isparta Mayor Şükrü Başdeğirmen stated that the guests coming from different provinces of the country both honored and made them proud. Mayor Başdeğirmen stated that the guests coming to the city are now tourism ambassadors of Isparta and said, “They will return to their hometowns to tell about our city with beautiful topics. Such a beautiful festival, the beauty of the vehicles, those cars that we remember our childhood with. Maybe our young people don't know much about it, but it is very valuable to us. We can see the cars of our childhood dreams here, they are all beautiful. As the Mayor of Isparta, we were extremely pleased to see 800 thousand guests with 3 vehicles. I would like to thank our Governor and my team for supporting us in this matter. We want our guests who come to our city to see and share the beauties of Isparta. We want them to leave Isparta with beautiful thoughts, the rose-scented city of Anatolia, the land of fruits and lavender. "We will be extremely pleased if you come again."
Isparta Governor Aydın Baruş stated that Isparta aims to be one of the important points of tourism and that there are approximately 500 thousand accommodations in the city. Stating that their accommodation target is 1 million, Governor Baruş said, “Isparta is an important tourism point with its roses, lavender, orchards and Davraz. In order to utilize this potential in every season, we need different organizations such as the organization held today. We want our citizens living all over Turkey to get to know our beautiful Isparta and bring their acquaintances to see our city. One of the important pillars of this is the mass coming of non-governmental organizations to our city. Today, we have approximately 800 classic cars and nearly 3 thousand guests in our city. This is a very important figure. I would like to thank the Mercedes Lovers Club of Turkey and our Mayor and his team who provided all kinds of support in organizing this festival. Today, Isparta has gained a different dynamism. We see vehicles from many different years. Another matter of curiosity is that people who keep this love alive organize this festival in different provinces every year, which is very important. We need to travel more in order to increase the love of our homeland and country within us and to love Turkey more. The vehicle for this is the automobile. "I would like to thank all our guests who made Isparta happy," he said.
After the speeches, Governor Aydın Baruş, Mayor Şükrü Başdeğirmen and their entourage examined classic Mercedes, Murat 124 automobiles, history-defying motorcycles and classic American vehicles.
At the Classic Car Festival, Turkey's local and national vehicle, TOGG, attracted great attention from citizens. At the festival, citizens had the opportunity to examine TOGG.
Classic car enthusiasts who came to Isparta from different cities also thanked Isparta Mayor Şükrü Başdeğirmen for organizing the festival. Stating that the passion for classic cars is a different feeling, car enthusiasts said, “We are establishing very nice bonds of love. It's a very nice organization. “We thank our Mayor for leading us in such an organization.”