WORLD INTELLIGENT CITIES SUMMIT HELD IN ISTANBUL

Attending the “World Intelligent Cities Summit” held in Istanbul, Minister for EU Affairs and Chief Negotiator Egemen Bagis delivered a speech and stated that although Istanbul had some problems with transportation, when the general perspective and the world history were taken into consideration, it was one of the world’s “most intelligent” cities.

Explaining that while people were having moral conflicts in different parts of the world, in Istanbul, all of the religions, values and cultures lived together in harmony, Bagis said: “Today, considering Istanbul’s current situation, the city doesn’t really have any problems without solutions. Thanks God, our most important wealth in Istanbul is tolerance, our characteristics of mutual empathy.” Bagis expressed that he had an understanding of power and local government addressing other problems of Istanbul. Pointing out to the fact that there was a significant interest in Istanbul both from East and West, Bagis added:

“And this is a sign indicating the fact that Istanbul’s intelligence starts to get discovered. In the past, while talking about Istanbul abroad, we would feel the need to explain. However, now, maybe the brand equity of Istanbul has got ahead of even the brand equity of Turkey. In the EU negotiation process, I feel a great pleasure in speaking of Istanbul and try to explain to the Europeans on every occasion that how weak and poor EU would be without Istanbul and how insufficient the idea of EU without Istanbul would be not for Istanbul but for EU, for such a peace project.”

Underlining the fact that Istanbul is one of the major values of Turkey, Bagis continued his words as follows:

“And the intelligent EU will be the EU that incorporates the potential of Turkey and Istanbul. Istanbul is a fashion, communication, trade, dialogue, tolerance but at the same time, it is one of the most natural capitals and the most significant values of Europe. It will be one of the solution centers in the world in the upcoming period with its projects: ‘Kanal Istanbul’, Marmaray, third bridge, urban transformation, public transportation; congress and finance centers, historical wealth and culture.”

Source: AA