5th Ordinary General Assembly Meeting of TDBB Held in Istanbul

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5th Ordinary General Assembly Meeting of Union of Turkish World Municipalities (TDBB) which aims to cooperation and solidarity in the concepts of local governments over 30 different countries with 1.179 member municipalities was held in order to select new governing bodies on 02 May 2019 in Istanbul.

General Assembly was attended by former Deputy Prime Minister and Deputy Head of AK Party Prof Dr Numan Kurtulmuş, MP of Istanbul Hasan Turan, Former MP of Istanbul Hüseyin Bürge, President of TDBB İbrahim Karaosmanoğlu, Mayor of Konya Metropolitan Municipality Uğur İbrahim Altay and nearly 300 mayors, councilors, representatives of local government institutions and invitees from nearly 20 different countries especially from Albania, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, TRNC, North Macedonia, Lebanon, Mongolia, Moldova Gagauz Autonomous Region, Uzbekistan, Tatarstan and Turkey.

Program of General Assembly after the registration and cocktail started with showing introduction film of TDBB and speech of President of TDBB İbrahim Karaosmanoğlu. Karaosmanoğlu started his speech with wishing to become cities healthier and happier and thanked all the mayors of TDBB Administrative Board which are the representatives of 11 different countries and TDBB staff. President Karaosmanoğlu stated that the main aim of TDBB which was established in 2003 by the decision of the Council of Ministers is to improve cooperation and solidarity with the friendly and brotherly countries within TDBB’s target geography. Karaosmanoğlu also posited that the main aim of TDBB is to provide services for the people living in cities to become healthier and happier and improvement of our common culture. Karaosmanoğlu finally wished success to the newly elected TDBB President and Administrative Board Members.

Then, appreciation plaques were given to the mayors who were in TDBB Administrative Board in the previous term by Karaosmanoğlu.

Program continued with the speeches of Ambassador of North Macedonia in Ankara Zvonko Mucunski, Secretary General of UCLG-MEWA Mehmet Duman, Mayor of Kazan, the capital of Tatarstan İlsur Metşin and former Deputy Prime Minister and Deputy Head of AK Party Prof Dr Numan Kurtulmuş.

Kurtulmuş, in his speech, stated that the idea of establishment of Union of Turkish World Municipalities emerged at the Azerbaijan Summit of Presidents of Turkish Speaking States in 2000, after its founding TDBB has been carrying on its activities very actively. Kurtulmuş affirmed that TDBB is an international institution which includes 151 municipalities from Turkey and was contributed from 30 different countries and also posited that TDBB has become a very important local government platform in time. Kurtulmuş also highlighted the importance of local governments for national diplomacy. He also claimed that the emergence of a new field called diplomacy in cities and local governments and importance of diplomacy areas of local governments which are joint projects, activities, perspectives and cooperation areas in local government and accordingly he put forward that knowledge and experience of TDBB can be make it an important platform in an enormous geography from Central Asia to Balkans.

After the opening and protocol speeches and congratulatory messages were read, Council Committee was formed and meeting agenda started to discuss.

TDBB Founding Chairman and MP of Istanbul Erol Kaya was elected as the Chairman of the Council Committee; President of Azerbaijan Union of Municipalities Temraz Tağıev and Mayor of North Macedonia Gostivar Arben Taravari were elected as Members of the Council Committee.

Chairman of the Council Committee Erol Kaya stated that “I wish the best for this congress to TDBB. I would like to congratulate the management of this magnificent union which has more than 1,170 members from 30 different countries”.

Following the agenda, 2015-2019 Activity Report was presented by TDBB Secretary General Fahri Solak, Audit Report was presented by Member of Supervisory Board Hasan Akcan and Financial Report was presented by Vice President Responsible for Financial Affairs Yücel Çelikbilek and approved by the members of the General Assembly unanimously.

Then, election of new governing bodies of the Union started. As a result of the voting, Mayor of Konya Metropolitan Municipality Uğur İbrahim Altay was elected as the President of TDBB, while the members of the General Assembly elected TDBB’s new Administrative Board, Supervisory Board and High Advisory Board members.

President of TDBB and Mayor of Konya Metropolitan Municipality Uğur İbrahim Altay during his speech stated that they would endeavor to make peace and harmony prevail all over the world. Altay also emphasized that local governments have an important role in the welfare of the region and he noted that they will strengthen the activities on city management in the countries and regions where Turkish languages and dialects are spoken.

Altay said that they will continue to carry out important activities in the international arena by strengthening cooperation and solidarity. President Altay underlined that they will endeavor to make peace and harmony prevail all over the world, especially in the Turkish world, he also said that “We are co-chairing UCLG and we are the vice-president of the League of Historical Cities as the city of Konya. We are also in the Administrative Board of Organization of Islamic Capitals and Cities. We have sister cities in over 40 cities. I hope that we will work together with these unions around the world in order to transfer the mission carried by our cities and countries to the whole world with their partnerships as Union of Turkish World Municipalities”. President Altay noted that they will continue to carry out projects for developing cooperation between the local governments within the geographical area from the Balkans to the Caucasus and Central Asia in friendly and brotherly countries. President Altay finally thanked to President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdoğan for his support since the establishment of the Union and also the Presidents of other member countries. Altay emphasized that “I would like to thank our colleagues who were in the management, who worked in related boards, presidents of our member municipalities and the staff since the establishment of our Union. We have taken this duty as the new Administrative Board and we will endeavor to raise it to higher level. I believe that we will do a very good work all together with your support”.

Following the election of the new Administrative Board, Executive Board and Supervisory Board, President of Azerbaijan Union of Municipalities Tamraz Tagıyev, General Manager of Albania Union of Municipalities Agron Haxhimali, Mayor of Novi Grad of Bosnia and Herzegovina Semir Efendic, Mayor of New Tisim of Kirkuk, Iraq Necdet Akkoyunlu, from city of Çimkent Kazakhstan Halilullah Madjanov, Mayor of Kyrgyzstan Cholpan Ata Talantbek Sarbagisev, President of Cyprus Union of Turkish Municipalities Mahmut Özçınar, Vice President of Moldova Gagauz Autonomous Region Olga Mitioglo, Mayor of North Macedonia Gostivar Arben Taravari, President of Union of Dannieh Municipalities of Lebanon Mohammed Saadie, Mayor of Shirin of the Province of Sirderya of Uzbekistan Ilham Berdialiev and Head of Batshireet City Council of Mongolia Dugarjav Gansuren took the floor and made evaluations and suggestions.

5th Ordinary General Assembly Meeting of TDBB was completed after lunch and participants took the family photo. Participants who came to General Assembly abroad after they joined Istanbul cultural tour and Bosphorus boat trip organized on 3 May 2019, Friday returned to their home countries.

After the General Assembly, newly elected members of TDBB Administrative Board held their first meeting and evaluated distribution of duties and the issues on the agenda.

Accordingly, TDBB Administrative Board and Executive Board Members are formed as follows:

TDBB ADMINISTRATIVE BOARD MEMBERS (2019 – 2021)

TDBB EXECUTIVE BOARD MEMBERS

04.05.2019