The Mayor of İzmir Metropolitan Municipality, Tunç Soyer was deemed worthy of the "Local Governments Award" for the "One Rent One Home" campaign that healed the wounds of the earthquake and the 2nd Century Economics Congress. Mayor Soyer, who speaks at the award ceremony, said “İzmir has done its part. I was just a bridge in the Economics Congress and the One Rent One Home projects”.
İzmir Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Tunç Soyer attended the award ceremony of those who add value to life. The ceremony was organized for the 17th time this year by the B2B-Prestige International Relations Development Platform. Mayor Tunç Soyer was deemed worthy of the Those Who Add Value to Life-Local Governments Award, thanks to the “One Rent One Home” solidarity campaign, which started with the 30 October İzmir earthquake and came to the agenda with the 6 February Kahramanmaraş earthquake, and the 2nd Century Economics Congress.
At the award ceremony held at the İstanbul Armada Hotel, 25 people and institutions were awarded with the votes of 34 jury members consisting of academics, journalists, non-governmental organization managers, diplomats, artists and business people.
“It is pride for me”
Mayor Tunç Soyer, who spoke at the ceremony, said “Every reward is actually a burden for the conferee because the expectations of those who deserve it are great. But this burden is my pride. Thank you very much for this reward.
“10 thousand TL support for 30 thousand earthquake victims”
Mayor Soyer, who talked about the One Rent One Home solidarity campaign said “One Rent One Home is actually a software project. The project that brings together the needy and the contributor without an account number. First, it provided the transfer of very serious resources in the İzmir earthquake. Then,in the 6 February earthquakes, with the support of Halk TV, a figure of more than 300 million TL was collected in one night. This means 30 thousand earthquake victims. 10 thousand TL was directly transferred to the earthquake victims. So it turned into a healthy campaign.”
“We said we should do this too”
Mayor Soyer, who explained the conditions at the Economics Congress held in İzmir 100 years ago, said “When you look at today's conditions, 86 percent of young people between the ages of 18-30 say they have no idea about their future. 50 percent of the employees work for a salary below the minimum wage. We lost over 50 thousand people in the disaster that took place in a geography as big as Greece. There are  a lot of wreck. Shortly, we are going through extremely dismal days. But we cannot say that we were worse than the conditions of that day. If our ancestors were able to demonstrate a willpower to establish the Republic under the conditions of that day, If they succeeded in determining the future of the Republic with the decisions taken at the Economics Congress ; we said we should do this too. İzmir worked for 8 months in the direction of this liability. During this period, 303 decisions were taken with 180 NGOs, more than 200 academicians and more than 70 speakers from all over the world. Only 27 of them were reported a minute of dissent.
“İzmir has done its part”
Mayor Soyer concluded his speech as follows : “ We have no right to give up hope in this country, on this land. In this world's most beautiful geography, No one deserves this poverty, this inflation. It's not a predestination. İzmir has done its part. You have rewarded me the Those Who Add Value to Life Award. Thank you. However, I was just a bridge. I was only a bridge in the Economy Congress and One Rent One Home projects, which have reached 413 million TL solidarity so far.”
“Our prize – giving ceremony will give a message to all segments of society”
The Head of the Those Who Add Value to Life Awards and B2B-Prestige International Relations Development Platform, Mehmet Gözcü,  stated that this year's rewards were marked by the great earthquakes that occurred on February 6th. He said, “The pandemic, the economic crisis we experienced and finally the earthquakes of February 6 complicated things a little more difficult for our country. The great disaster forces us to be more sensible. Especially, urbanization and maintainability have been more in our lives now. In addition, it is necessary not to think about the economy only in terms of enlargement and profit. Our companies should affect society more, should take on responsibility. They should be more sensitive to the city, the environment, people and animals. Our reward ceremony, which we organized for the 17th time this year, will give a message to all segments of society just in this critical period. So, we are honored to reward business people, local administrators, artists, writers, scientists and environmentally responsible people and foundations that contribute to the culture, art, architecture and economy of the city.