Ankara and Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan, became “sister city” with the protocol signed. Mayor of Ankara Metropolitan Municipality Mansur Yavaş and his accompanying delegation met with Governor of Tashkent Cihangir Artıkhocayev in Uzbekistan, where he went to make contacts. During the meeting, Yavaş expressed his happiness for being in Tashkent and emphasized that “Sister City” protocol between Tashkent and Ankara would be the first sister city protocol that he signed after his appointment. Yavaş said that the decision was taken unanimously by all parties in the Municipal Assembly and also added that they were excited that the close friendship and cooperation established between the leaders of the two countries will be implemented at the local level.

Yavaş reminded that there are 34 streets which have been named as Uzbekistan, Tashkent, Samarkand and Bukhara within the borders of Ankara Metropolitan Municipality and said that this shows that Uzbekistan has a very private place at the hearts of Turkish community. Yavaş also suggested a friendly match between Ankaragücü and Tashkent’s leading football club.

 On the other hand, Governor of Tashkent Cihangir Artıkhocayev stated that the relations between Uzbekistan and Turkey have recently developed rapidly and said that the visits of the leaders of both countries to each other have maximized the bilateral relations. Besides, he emphasized that after his appointment as Governor of Tashkent he made his first visit to Istanbul to meet with Turkish businessmen and added that they had given special importance for the development of cooperation with Turkey and Turkish businessmen and finally expressed that they had allocated 100 hectares of land within the framework of the agreement signed with Gebze Organized Industrial Zone.

Artıkhocayev stated that they would work on the proposal of Yavaş for giving the name of Ankara to a street in Tashkent and added, “But I have a condition. The street that will be named as Ankara will be built by Turkish businessmen. When we come to that street we want to feel the atmosphere and smell of Turkey.”

At the end of the meeting, Yavaş and Artıkhocayev signed the protocol for Ankara and Tashkent to be “Sister Cities”.

16.09.2019