Soğanlı Nation Garden, built in cooperation with the Mass Housing Administration (TOKİ); It was put into service with the participation of Minister of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change Mehmet Özhaseki. Built on an area of 100 thousand square meters in Soğanlı District, Soğanlı Nation Garden includes multi-purpose event areas, strolling, walking and jogging paths, bicycle paths, fruit gardens, sound and scent gardens, thematic gardens, picnic areas, performance areas, open air There are exhibition areas, groves and grass areas, children's playground, seating and recreation areas, open car park areas, sports fields and a public cafeteria. The giant national garden will be a center of attraction for Bursa with its greenery and social facilities.
Speaking at the opening, Osmangazi Mayor Mustafa Dündar said that they were excited to present the Soğanlı National Garden to the people of Bursa, which will both add vision to the city and give citizens a breath of fresh air amid intense urbanization.
“We ensured the construction of 73 thousand 750 earthquake-resistant houses”
Osmangazi Mayor Mustafa Dündar, who started his speech by emphasizing that we live in a country and city located on the earthquake zone, said, “Last year, we were faced with earthquakes centered in Kahramanmaraş that affected 11 provinces and 14 million citizens. On the morning of the earthquake, our teams set out and rushed to the aid of our earthquake-affected citizens. 440 of our friends worked in search and rescue, debris removal, establishment of a soup kitchen, disinfection and cleaning activities. We built a prefabricated city of 100 houses in İslahiye. After the earthquakes, everyone started asking what kind of work municipalities were doing about earthquakes. When we took office in 2009, we created an urban transformation master plan under the name of the urban planning academy. Within the framework of this master plan, we started urban transformation works in different points of Osmangazi. We are the only municipality among the metropolitan cities in Turkey that implements ground+5-storey construction, which our President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan defines as ideal in construction. The Soğanlı Urban Transformation Project, which we initiated together with the Ministry of Environment and Urbanization in 2013, set an example for Turkey. We built 73 thousand 750 earthquake-resistant, safe houses in the Demirtaş, Hamitler, Güneştepe, Soğanlı and Panayır regions of Osmangazi. This indicates that approximately 300 thousand people live in earthquake-resistant houses. With these works, we see that the city renews itself. "Today, we are opening the Soğanlı Nation Garden, which will crown the urban transformation we have made in our Soğanlı Neighborhood," he said.
“We created 1 million 700 thousand square meters of green space”
Underlining that they have brought 2009 parks to Osmangazi since they took office in 452, Mayor Dündar said, “We have a total of 836 parks, including the existing parks in the past. We built some of them in line with plans and some of them in areas we acquired as a result of expropriation. We created 1 million 700 thousand square meters of new green areas. We will continue these studies in the future. We acquired the area of the Soğanlı Nation Garden, which we opened today, as a result of the expropriation works we started in 2013. In cooperation with our municipality and TOKİ, we turned this 100-decare land into a public garden. "This will be a place that breathes life into Bursa," he said.
Özhaseki: “Cities are living organisms”
Stating that they were happy to have a beautiful opening in Bursa, Minister of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change Mehmet Özhaseki said that they are step by step approaching the target of 500 national gardens shown by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Minister Özhaseki said, “Of course, revitalizing and developing a city is a skill. But the main thing is to win the hearts of the citizens. We see one of the best examples of this in Bursa today. In the metropolitan city and districts, urban transformation works, green areas, and works are carried out for the happiness and welfare of the people living there. Cities are living organisms. Cities are alive. If we see them as structures consisting of stone and soil, this will be the biggest mistake we will make in life. "Cities need care, attention and effort." said.
Reminding that President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan set a target of 500 national gardens, Özhaseki said, “We have more than 500 national garden projects. We finished 234 of them. Our goal is to create 100 million square meters of green space. Our President set this goal. We are currently approaching 78-80 million square meters of area. The construction of more than 250 of them continues. There are more than 3 million square meters of green areas in Bursa. The green area we support as the ministry is around 2 and a half million square meters. We opened 5 of them, 2 of them are finished and waiting to be opened. The construction of all 3 of them continues. I would like to thank our colleagues who contributed to the construction of this park, TOKİ, our Bursa Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Alinur Aktaş and our Osmangazi Mayor Mustafa Dündar. We now offer this park to the service of our citizens. I hope you will be satisfied using it." he said.
Varank: “Green is very important for Bursa”
Emphasizing that green is very important for Bursa, Mustafa Varank, Chairman of the GNAT Industry, Trade, Energy, Natural Resources, Information and Technology Commission and AK Party Bursa Deputy, said in his speech: "Our presidents Mustafa Dündar and Alinur Aktaş talked about the work we have done and will do in our cities in their speeches. We have achieved such a beautiful work with the contributions of our two esteemed mayors and the support of our esteemed minister who led them. Green is very important for Bursa. We sleep with green and wake up with green. Every green space we provide to this city is important for us and our valued citizens. We have brought many green areas and parks to our city, such as the Soğanlı Nation Garden, which we opened today. The most important thing we know is to work. We are concerned about how we can put stone upon stone. "The highest rank for us is the sentence 'May God bless you' that our citizens will say," he said.
“We reached 3 million 200 thousand square meters of green area”
Bursa Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Alinur Aktaş said, 'Green suits every city, but Bursa is a city identified with green' and continued his speech with the following words: "When we say the name of our city, we say 'Green' Bursa. Our football team's uniform colors are green and white. Green is very valuable for Bursa. Rapid industrialization, urbanization and development in the last 50 years have created economic beauties. However, these developments unfortunately caused the loss of some green areas. In order to reverse this, we have demonstrated a serious will to bring parks consisting of large areas to our city rather than small parks. We targeted 1 million square meters of green space, and we reached 3 million 200 thousand square meters of green space. Our Osmangazi and Yıldırım Mayors and their teams also have special efforts in this. “We worked like ants and produced beautiful works.”
Following the speeches, the opening ribbon of the Soğanlı Nation Garden was cut, accompanied by prayers.
