Yücel Yılmaz, Mayor of Balıkesir Metropolitan Municipality and President of Union of Municipalities of Türkiye, delivered the opening speech of the World Cities Day organized under the auspices of Emine Erdoğan. Mayor Yılmaz said, "As local administrators, we adopt a waste-free life model and work to build cities that will lead this movement."
"31 October World Cities Day", which is organized in different cities around the world with a different theme every year under the leadership of the United Nations Human Settlements Program (UN-Habitat), was hosted by Istanbul Üsküdar Municipality under the auspices of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's wife Emine Erdoğan this year. Yücel Yılmaz, Mayor of Balıkesir Metropolitan Municipality and President of Union of Municipalities of Türkiye, delivered the opening speech of the World Cities Day, which was held under the title of "Financing Sustainable Urban Future for All" and with the theme of "Zero Waste", and expressed his pleasure to host such an important organization as a country.
ZERO WASTE MOVEMENT HAS TURNED INTO A GREAT ENVIRONMENTAL MOVEMENT
Stating that Cities Day offers an important opportunity to rethink cities, Mayor Yücel Yılmaz emphasized that it is also important that one of the sub-headings is Zero Waste and said, "Under the leadership of Mrs. Emine Erdoğan, the zero waste movement, which was launched in 2017, has now turned into a great environmental movement embraced by many countries. As local administrators, we adopt a life model that does not produce waste; we are working to build cities that will lead this movement."
OPENING ON NOVEMBER 2
Stating that they are working in solidarity with international organizations, especially the United Nations, for the localization of Sustainable Development Goals in Balıkesir, Mayor Yücel Yılmaz reminded that Balıkesir hosted the World Habitat Day last year and said "Now we are excited to bring the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals Cities Network's Türkiye Office to our city. On November 2nd, we will inaugurate the Office within the scope of the Localization Conference on Sustainable Development Goals in Cities that we will organize in Balıkesir. Also on the same day, we will bring the United Nations World Environment Status Center to our city." Giving his thanks to Emine Erdoğan, Minister of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change Mehmet Özhaseki and Üsküdar Municipality for hosting the program, Mayor Yılmaz also called for an immediate end to the Israeli oppression in Gaza and concrete steps to be taken in this regard, and expressed his condolences to the Palestinians who lost their lives in Israel's brutal attacks.
