A Committee that is led by Izmir Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Aziz Kocaoğlu, in which representatives from business world and local governments take role, attended European Regions Comittee Expansion Day meeting in Brussels, Capital of Belgium, which is also “Capital of European Union” at the same time.

In the meeting European delegates identified Izmir as “a bridge between European Union and Turkey”, Aziz Kocaoğlu expressed his determination as “We should be in the middle of this process.”

Aziz Kocaoğlu addressed to EU Comittee Members in the meeting with heading “Local Governments’ Participation in EU Expansion Process” and started his speech by sharing the sorrow related to the massacre on Friday evening in Paris.

Furthermore he added that, though the last approval comes from Ankara, Izmir is a city which can take matters into her own hands, is a leading city in many aspects. “We owe this to the fact that for the last 400 years we have been the city which has the most relations and interactions with the west in Anatolia. The residents who have nonesuch local dinamics is a society who have internalized democracy, human rights and law. Because the universal values of humanity has place in Izmir residents’ genes.

Mayor Aziz Kocaoğlu stated “Today, the fundamental aim to be here with you is the fact that Turkey should be in the middle of European Union, not anywhere at the side and Izmir is the city which can succeed European Union orientation period. We think that Republic of Turkey which proceed on the path Ataturk leads, should not turn back on. We know that Turkey needs Europe as much as Europe needs Turkey.”

Mayor Kocaoğlu mentioned about refugee problem in the end “Firstly peace should be settled in Syria to solve this great problem.”

EU Regions Committee President Markku Markkula gathered together with Izmir Committee mentioned about the importance of cultural collaboration and added that his sister’s daughter is married to a Turkish person. Markkula stated that EU gates have been “partially” opened for Turkey and “We will look for the ways of opening the gates together.”

EU Commission Strategy and Turkey Director Simon Mordue made important statements. In last 12 months, he said that they have deepened their relationships with Turkey. “In this period of time, we’ve seen important deficits. Especially in independence in judiciary and freedom. We still have hope. We do want to overcome these difficulties with new government.”

Mordue mentioned that in Turkey, balance should be established between centralized and local authorities; democracy, responsibility and accountability culture should be generalized and added “We analyse these features in participation procedure.”

 “Since World War II, this is the biggest refugee problem ever. Without the existence of Turkey, European Union will not find a solution for refugee problem. Today, there is more than 2 million Syrian refugees in Turkey .  

European Region Committee Salzburg Delegate Franz Schausberger identified Izmir as a bridge between European Union and Turkey. Schausberger stated that EU Regions Meeting which was held in Izmir 10 days ago was very succeessful.
Turkey Working Group President Jean Luc Vanraes drew attention to the success of the meeting in Izmir. Vanraes said “To be EU member means to delegate. In Turkey everyone is agreed that local governments should be reinforced, but what is the method for this? Local governments’ strength serves democracy. However they have distress with centralized government.”