The first session of the IMM Assembly in July was held - Breaking News

The first session of the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (IMM) Assembly was held in July.

The first session of the IMM Assembly in July was held at the municipality building in Saraçhane, under the chairmanship of the 1st Deputy Chairman of the Assembly, Gökhan Gümüşdağ.

AK Party Council Member Özlem Zekiye Bağlar, who took the floor to submit a parliamentary question, asked at what stage the İBB's Üsküdar-Kadıköy-Maltepe tram project was.

In the voting, the parliamentary question was accepted unanimously.

After the parliamentary questions, off-the-agenda speeches began.

"We reduced the 50 percent risky building stock in Başakşehir to 10 percent"

Başakşehir Mayor Yasin Kartoğlu, who went to the podium to make a speech outside the agenda, brought up the Gölcük earthquake of 17 August 1999 and the Kahramanmaraş-centered earthquakes of 6 February 2023.

Kartoğlu said that, as the Turkish nation, they healed the wounds together and stood by the earthquake victims.

Referring to the urban transformation activities carried out in Başakşehir, Kartoğlu said, "We had a 50 percent risky building stock in 2019. We reduced this rate to 10 percent with the transformation we carried out neighborhood by neighborhood. This is also a success story and a struggle to protect human life." he said.

Referring to green areas and social projects, Kartoğlu said, "We have become one of the greenest districts of Istanbul with 14 million square meters of green areas and 9 public gardens in Başakşehir. Green areas are not only environmental and aesthetic. Istanbul lives with the reality of earthquakes. If you cannot produce green areas in a city, you cannot produce disaster areas either. Therefore, I would like to announce that not only green areas but also disaster and assembly areas have been solved, especially with the green areas produced by Başakşehir." he said.

Asking what has happened during the IMM administration since 2019, Kartoğlu said:

"Did the IMM administration, to which 16 million of our people were entrusted, learn the necessary lesson from this picture? Unfortunately no. The necessary budget for housing was not allocated. Sufficient housing was not produced. Urban transformation was completely removed from the IMM's agenda. I wish the 100 thousand houses promised in the election squares had been given priority and those houses had been built. Moreover, the IMM administration not only did nothing, but also blocked the district municipalities, which work hard like us, by filing lawsuits against the activities we carried out in the transformation zones and blocking them."

Stating that Istanbul's housing stock is problematic, Kartoğlu said that this should be solved by working together day and night. Kartoğlu noted that earthquake and urban transformation are a matter above politics.

CHP Council Member Nizamettin Kümeç said that Başakşehir Municipality's intention is not to be active with IMM, but only to criticize it for deficiencies.

Explaining that IMM has projects in Başakşehir, Kümeç talked about the investments related to the flood problem in the district and the closed garage to be built.

Taking the floor again, Yasin Kartoğlu stated that CHP Council Member Kümeç spoke for a long time but did not say anything.

Stating that Istanbul is a living city and that investments should be made in this city, Kartoğlu said, "I wish there were a lot of investments, I wish tens of thousands of houses were transformed into a metropolitan city, and we could only make a thank you speech here. Unfortunately, this is a sad result for the people of Istanbul." he said.

Mutual conversations between the AK Party and the CHP group regarding Başakşehir continued.

It was then discussed in the parliament that the agenda items would be referred to the relevant commissions.

The development plan in Tuzla was removed from the agenda

Meanwhile, AK Party Council Member Murat Kant, who took the floor, said that the agenda shared with the members of the Assembly included the agenda item regarding the zoning plan, which concerns thousands of citizens in Tuzla and for which they held an extraordinary meeting in the past weeks.

Emphasizing that this item was removed from the agenda, which was later revised, Kant asked why the zoning plan item in Tuzla was removed from the agenda.

Gökhan Gümüşdağ, the 1st Deputy Speaker of the Parliament, stated that he did not know about this issue and said that the relevant people could inform him.