ICE hosts the Provincial Director of Environment and Urbanisation
The Ordinary Assembly Meeting of İzmir Commodity Exchange (ICE) was held on Tuesday, 28 March 2017. Before the Assembly Meeting in which Mr. Selahattin Varan, Provincial Director of Environment and Urbanisation, was hosted, Joint Meeting of Professional Committees, which gathers every 6 months, was also held.
Addressing the members of the ICE Assembly, Mr. Varan stated that the urban transformation project to be run in Karabağlar district would begin to be realized with the ground breaking ceremony to be carried out on Wednesday, 5 April 2017 with the participation of the Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım and Mehmet Özhaseki, the Minister of Environment and Urbanisation. Mr. Varan also stressed that the urban transformation process would be carried out in an area of 101 hectares, 300 thousand houses would be built and an area of about 270 thousand square meters would be arranged as public garden. Having added that the urban transformation area in Karabağlar would be a vision and guide for İzmir, Mr. Varan stated that the citizens were able to communicate their complaints, questions or opinions through ALO 181 Environment and Urbanisation Line directly to the officials and that they could take action 24 hours a day if any incidents that require immediate action occurred.
The President of the ICE Mr. Barış Kocagöz, who made the welcoming speech of the meeting, indicated that the Provincial Directorate of Environment and Urbanisation was an institution responsible to protect the environment, prevent the environmental pollution and take all the necessary measures in this respect. He also said, "In our country, the agriculture undergoes damage and some long-term losses due to environmental pollution, in particular the industrial environmental pollution from time to time. Türkiye's land assets sometimes remain under the pressure of different environmental problems as in other parts of the world. The area of fertile lands decreases day by day due mainly to urbanisation, industrialization and transportation activities. However, we are glad to see that in order to prevent this, the valuable plains of our country are included in the scope of protected areas."
Mr. Kocagöz also uttered the following:
"If we want to reach our agricultural export target of 150 billion dollars and become one of the most powerful agricultural countries in the world according to Türkiye's 2023 export strategy, it is not enough to concentrate only on production and efficiency increase. We must also focus on the losses and damages that occur in our soil and water reserves, flora and fauna, and their effects to our economy. We must strive together in order to leave clean air, clean food and clean water for our children and sustainable production and a sustainable environment for future generations by carrying out serious researches in this field, measuring these effects well and developing precautionary measures. For this reason, I would like to state that we are ready for all kinds of assistance on our part and available for all sorts of joint projects that can be developed and run together."
In her speech in which she drew attention to the dystopic set-up around Türkiye, Işınsu Kestelli, chairperson of the ICE, said "The USA which imposes globalization on the world starts to become introverted, which we have difficulty in understanding. In Europe, which is the mastermind of the amalgamation of civilizations, a racial rise that is a reminiscent of the pre-World War 2 period has begun. Countries such as Russia, Iran, Israel and China with secret agendas are taking invisible steps that fuel regional instability. In all this chaos, millions of immigrants continue to disperse around the world like stray mines. As Türkiye, we are unfortunately right in the middle of this jungle with our great ideals and in all cases we pay the bill for all incidents. It seems necessary for us to take decisive and extraordinary steps in order not to render the chaos in our geography our fate."
Emphasizing that she believed Türkiye still had a story, Mrs. Kestelli said:
"I think that despite the fact that we have a lot of work to do, and we have many problems to overcome, the mission of leaving a mark on coming days continues strongly. Türkiye is the most important force that will constitute the basis of the future of this geography. And one of the most important resources of this force is our human resource and production power. It is obvious that we have experienced a revival in the recent period in the economy despite the deterioration we have faced in key indicators such as exchange rates, interest rates, inflation and unemployment. It seems that the world has bigger and more serious problems than the economy. Türkiye will vote for the type of government on April 16th. Whatever the return is, we believe we should embrace the reform agenda with greater enthusiasm as of the morning of April 17th. Mr. Prime Minister announced that the premium amounts would be declared for 3 years within the scope of "national agriculture policy". This practice which will be a new era for agricultural subsidies is really important in terms of accurate forecasting of production planning and supply. For this reason, we think that the amount of premiums should be disclosed as soon as possible in this period when the sowing time is close."
28.03.2017
