A protocol has been signed between Diyarbakır Metropolitan Municipality and Dicle University for the allocation of two separate immovable properties to the municipality within the university campus for the construction of a guesthouse for patients’ relatives, a fire station service building and a car park.

Diyarbakır Metropolitan Municipality and Dicle University have signed a protocol on the allocation of two separate immovable properties to the municipality within the university campus for the construction of a fire station service building, as well as a guesthouse and car park for patients’ relatives. In a city where accommodation, food and transport needs for patients’ relatives have become a significant necessity, the planned guesthouse and car park are expected to respond substantially to this need.

At the signing ceremony held at the Metropolitan Municipality service building, Co-Mayors Serra Bucak and Doğan Hatun welcomed at the door the Dicle University delegation, which included Rector Prof. Dr Kamuran Eronat, Vice Rectors Prof. Dr Mehmet Siraç Özerdem, Prof. Dr Velat Şen and Prof. Dr Vahap Özpolat, and Secretary General Associate Prof. Dr Mustafa Uğurlu Arslan. DBB Secretary General Serdar Bakıroğlu and Deputy Secretary General Zerin Türk also attended the signing ceremony.

“Patients’ relatives had to wait in corridors and in the garden”

Speaking about the protocol after the welcome, Dicle University Rector Kamuran Eronat said that the university hospital in the city serves people from all provinces of Türkiye, and particularly residents coming from across the region. He said: “Patients’ relatives were having to wait for their loved ones in corridors in winter and in the garden in summer, in conditions that did not befit human dignity. A fire station site is also very much needed. We thank you once again. Our cooperation with the municipality sets an example. This service will be a visionary step for our municipality, and both you and we will speak about it.”

Eronat also congratulated Co-Mayor Bucak on International Working Women’s Day on 8 March.

Co-Mayor Bucak: We want to turn our work into tangible outcomes

Co-Mayor Serra Bucak thanked Eronat and expressed her hope that the protocol would be beneficial for the city and for patients’ relatives. Co-Mayor Bucak said: “As you mentioned, the gardens were full of patients’ relatives in summer, and there was also the issue of parking. Perhaps even this will not fully meet the need, but it is a step forward.”

Bucak noted that, in addition to the guesthouse planned for patients’ relatives, they had also placed on their agenda a separate guesthouse project for residents who come to Diyarbakır from outside the city for various reasons and have nowhere to stay. She said: “As you know, the season is beginning, and we want to turn our work into tangible outcomes as soon as possible. We are now close to completing two years since taking office. For us, the coming period will be one in which we implement concrete projects.”

Following the signing of the protocol, the Co-Mayors presented the Dicle University delegation with a framed artwork featuring the Dicle Butterfly and various endemic species found in the Hevsel Gardens, as well as a book on Feqiyê Teyran, Melayê Cizîrî and Ehmed-i Xânî, all of whom hold an important place in Kurdish oral literature.

Scope of the protocol

Under the “Immovable Property Allocation Protocol” signed between Diyarbakır Metropolitan Municipality and Dicle University in response to needs within and around the university campus, two separate plots owned by the university were allocated to Diyarbakır Metropolitan Municipality for the delivery of the agreed services.

According to the protocol, a total area of 20,379.99 square metres located on parcel no. 1, block 7560, in Yiğitçavuş neighbourhood of Sur district, will be used by Diyarbakır Metropolitan Municipality for a Fire Station Service Building and its ancillary facilities. Of this area, 15,721.53 square metres have been designated for the fire station service building, while 4,658.46 square metres have been planned as an access road for the fire service. The fire unit to be established there is intended to enable faster response to fires that may occur both in the rapidly developing residential areas around the university campus and within the university itself.

Guesthouse and car park

Under the protocol, an additional 8,002.83-square-metre site located on parcel no. 32, block 7567, in Yiğitçavuş neighbourhood was also allocated to the Metropolitan Municipality. A guesthouse and car park are planned for this site in order to meet the accommodation and basic needs of patients and their relatives coming from outside the city to hospitals affiliated with Dicle University.

According to the protocol, the allocated sites will remain in use for as long as the agreed services continue to be provided. If the projects are not implemented within two years of the handover of the immovable properties, the allocation may be revoked. However, where force majeure is documented and deemed acceptable by the university, this period may be extended for a further two years.

The projects for all buildings and facilities to be constructed on the allocated sites will, under the protocol, be subject to review and approval by Dicle University before construction begins.

Through the signed protocol, the aim is both to strengthen safety on the university campus and to meet the accommodation needs of patients’ relatives coming to the hospitals.