Diyarbakır Metropolitan Municipality Co-Mayors Serra Bucak and Doğan Hatun met with university students at a youth gathering, where they answered questions on local government, transport, ecology, language initiatives and democratic participation.

The Department of Press, Publications and Public Relations of the Metropolitan Municipality and the Youth Assembly of the City Council held the second Youth Gathering. At the event, organised in the Ziya Gökalp Conference Hall at Dicle University Culture and Congress Centre, Co-Mayors Serra Bucak and Doğan Hatun responded to questions on local government under the moderation of young people. Alongside the Co-Mayors, council members, heads of departments and hundreds of young people took part in the meeting.

Opening their remarks by greeting the young people, the Co-Mayors said that the size of the audience and the strong presence of youth gave them strength.

Co-Mayor Hatun: We must debate in order to build a free society

Co-Mayor Hatun stated that they would collectively discuss the role and mission of local governments, young people and women in the construction of a democratic society, and continued:

“We must work on how to resolve these issues. We need to discuss, one by one, what the problems of society are, what the problems of the city are, what the problems of young people are. How can we build a free society, a peaceful society; how can we build a clean city, a liveable city for everyone, a dignified life? These are the issues we want to talk about. So please share your criticisms and your proposals. As we said during the election period, we will build this city together, and we will solve our problems together.”

Co-Mayor Bucak: Every word spoken contributes to building policy

Co-Mayor Serra Bucak expressed her satisfaction at being together with students and recalled that the Middle East and the wider region are going through challenging times. Emphasising that, as local administrators, they attach importance to young people’s ideas on the construction of a democratic society and peace, Co-Mayor Bucak underlined that every word spoken contributes to the building of policy.

Stating that they need young people’s criticism and proposals on many issues such as poverty in the city, women’s policies and services for young people, Co-Mayor Bucak said:

“Seeing this large audience, we can already tell that fruitful discussions are possible. We want to hear your genuine and realistic criticisms about the city. If you have criticisms and forward-looking project ideas, we are open to them. We know that young people are facing serious difficulties. We speak of a democratic society and peace because, if this process opens up more space for freedoms, it will also make it possible to create an environment in which you, as young people, can realise your dreams.”

‘Work to improve public transport is ongoing’

Drawing attention to the importance of young people knowing their own role and shouldering responsibility for building the future, Co-Mayor Bucak answered questions on problems in the field of transport. She noted that 13 vehicles serve the women’s student halls of residence and 8 serve the men’s halls, and stated that, when they took office, they strengthened the fleet by purchasing 65 new buses. She added that counts of routes and lines had been carried out and that improvement works were ongoing.

Co-Mayor Bucak explained that the aim was to integrate private buses and minibuses into the system so as to create a structure that is both accountable and sustainable, and that they were in talks with international institutions regarding a rail system project. She said they had secured a small-scale source of financing and continued:

“Our team has been working intensively for a year and we believe we will successfully bring this project to life. The Transport Master Plan is also progressing in tandem with these efforts.”

‘We are working on global warming’

Responding to questions on projects in the field of environment and ecology, Co-Mayor Bucak said:

“We have restructured the capacity of the Climate Department; we are working on global warming and drought. We have established an Agroecology Climate School and we are creating urban gardens, orchards and a medicinal and aromatic plant garden for women. We want to make all of this open to critical discussion in the city centre. For the past 20 months, in everything we have done we have been asking how we can make our friends in high schools and universities part of our volunteer base. If we share ideas with one another, that is genuine public and youth participation. A culture of exchange and a culture of solidarity are core elements of who we are. I would very much like us to set up a volunteer committee here for ecology, women’s policies and other fields. We would like you to help guide our work.”

Visits to cultural and historical sites

Answering a question on the municipality’s trips and information activities relating to the city’s historical and cultural sites, Co-Mayor Hatun said:

“In our city there are places and sites that we can describe as symbols of resistance. Together with ecology associations we have already organised trips with a tourism focus, and we can turn these into tours centred on historical and cultural struggles.”

‘We can work together on language initiatives’

Answering a question on language initiatives, Co-Mayor Hatun said:

“We welcome the work being done on language, and we also have our own initiatives. At the Metropolitan Municipality, we are working to provide services in Kurdish in technical and administrative fields. We can work together on Kurdish. We are trying to provide services in all dialects of Kurdish. We can carry out these efforts jointly.”

Addressing students staying in halls of residence, Co-Mayor Hatun added:

“In our time, there were hall representatives and the problems experienced were conveyed to the university administration in a much more coordinated way. In this way, many issues were resolved in a short time. If you can also collectivise and coordinate the problems you face, both the resolution process becomes easier and your own organising is strengthened and becomes more enabling.”

‘Democratic spaces of life must be strengthened’

Emphasising the need to strengthen democratic spaces of life, Co-Mayor Hatun continued:

“The integration of democratic communes with other spheres of life is only possible if local governments, under the leadership of young people and women, organise a new way of life together. Combating drugs and other instruments of special warfare is likewise only possible by organising life itself and establishing an order in which we can govern ourselves together.”

Referring to discussions on creating a student council and youth council under the Municipal Council, Co-Mayor Hatun made the following call to young people:

“You can strengthen the Youth Assembly operating under the umbrella of the City Council. We can reimagine the story you describe together.”

‘We promise to put your ideas into practice’

Closing the event, Co-Mayor Bucak thanked the young people and said:

“Thank you all for your contributions. We promise to put your ideas into practice. Our Alo 153 hotline, our social media channels and our contact desks are always ready to communicate with you.”

The Youth Gathering concluded with a concert by Roni Artin and DJ Xodi.