Ferdi Zeyrek's name will live on in the foundation established under the leadership of his wife and daughter: 'There is a stain on milk, but no stain on Ferdi'

The opening of the Ferdi Zeyrek Foundation was held with a ceremony at the Manisa Metropolitan Municipality Fair Center. While CHP Chairman Özgür Özel attended the ceremony with his wife Didem Özel, the event was also attended by CHP Manisa deputies Selma Aliye Kavaf, Bekir Başevirgen, and Ahmet Vehbi Bakırlıoğlu, Manisa Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Besim Dutlulu, CHP Manisa Provincial Chairman İlksen Özalper, mayors from surrounding provinces and districts, the late Ferdi Zeyrek's mother Gülten Zeyrek, his wife and founder of the Foundation Nurcan Zeyrek, his daughter Nehir Zeyrek, protocol members, and numerous guests. During the ceremony, Ferdi Zeyrek's mother, Gülten Zeyrek, could not hold back her tears.

"FERDİ'S LIGHT WILL NEVER GO OUT WITH THIS FOUNDATION"

Making the opening speech of the program, which began with a short video of Ferdi Zeyrek's term in office, Ferdi Zeyrek Foundation Board Chair Nurcan Zeyrek said, "We had dreams. We imagined seeing our daughters become professionals and quiet moments during retirement. Now, with this foundation, we want to support children who have dreams but cannot afford to study, support children with special needs, and support barefoot children in mountain villages. We are launching our foundation's first project.

We are starting university education support to be a hope for the future of our successful and needy youth. With this project, we will support our young people who reside in Manisa and go to other cities to study, as well as those who come to Manisa from other cities to study. Children of martyrs and veterans, as well as children raised in Social Services and Child Protection Agency institutions, will always be our priority. As the Ferdi Zeyrek Foundation, we have also reached an agreement to support children selected from Manisa for the Darüşşafaka Society. Ferdi, I promise you, your light will never go out with this foundation," she said.

"THE FOUNDATION IS A CONTINUATION OF MY FATHER FERDİ ZEYREK'S STORY"

Ferdi Zeyrek's daughter, Nehir Zeyrek, one of the founders of the foundation, said, "We established this foundation in two months. This foundation is a continuation of my father Ferdi Zeyrek's story. We will carry his dreams into the future. The work to be done today and tomorrow will be shaped by his understanding. This foundation represents a set of values. I will continue to live my life like my father and work like my father. It is our turn now; we will grow the legacy he left behind even further," she stated.

Murat Çökmez, one of the founders of the foundation, also said in his speech that they aim to provide material and moral support to young people, who are the future of society.

Manisa Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Besim Dutlulu expressed his belief that the foundation would do great things not only for Manisa but for Turkey, and stated that they would always be supporters of the foundation.

"THERE IS A STAIN ON MILK, BUT NO STAIN ON FERDİ"

CHP Chairman Özgür Özel, who made the final speech of the opening program, said, "Ferdi was someone completely different who loved his profession, loved the city he lived in, loved people, loved children, and valued life itself. Whoever knew him could not escape his influence; he was someone no one could harbor enmity toward, someone everyone would want to be friends with. Ferdi is someone you miss when you are away, just as one misses their sibling. He loved the city, he loved people, he was in love with Manisa and Manisaspor, and he loved municipal work. Because of his background as an architect and his love for serving people, the most suitable job for Ferdi was being mayor. I didn't prepare any notes for the introduction meeting of Ferdi, whom we would announce as our Metropolitan Mayoral Candidate; it didn't feel right. I thought, let me describe Ferdi as I know him. I thought people would understand this, they would take it in. I didn't have anything in mind to say about Ferdi until I got on that stage. But I said one sentence, and then I repeated it everywhere. I think that is the sentence that everyone who knew Ferdi would sign off on, the one that summarizes Ferdi: 'There is a stain on milk, but no stain on Ferdi,' my brother. It was truly like that, and from that day on, when we said this on the bus and in the squares, everyone agreed with it wholeheartedly, just as you did a moment ago. As they got to know him, and as Ferdi worked, everyone agreed with this," he said.

"IT WAS OUR LAST UNFINISHED DREAM"

Mentioning a dialogue they had in his office after Ferdi Zeyrek won the Manisa Metropolitan Municipality Mayoralty, Özel said, "Ferdi and I have looked down from Mount Spil many times. We felt that we were getting closer to another dream we had established there. Opposite the Manisa Metropolitan Municipality is the Western Barracks (Batı Kışla). It is a massive area in the middle of the city. Sometimes they said, 'This will be sold to the Qataris,' and sometimes they said, 'This will be opened for zoning.' It has thousands of trees and small buildings inside; the military needs to move out now.

Ferdi said, 'Brother, if I ask for this place, would they give it to us?' I said, 'Ask.' He was even going to talk to our Vice President about this issue, and I said, 'Those who ask are never ashamed.' If they don't give it, when we come to power, we will have to give it to you. Now that the Republican People's Party's Yunusemre Municipality is CHP, and the Metropolitan Municipality is CHP, that area is secure. I hope the foundation, our Metropolitan Mayor, will hold the necessary meetings with the relevant ministers and our relevant Vice President, and if the ruling party deputies lead the way and help, that place could become Turkey's largest urban forest.

Its name will, of course, be the Ferdi Zeyrek Urban Forest. I estimate that it would compete with Hyde Park and Central Park when viewed on a city scale. It would be a place with tens of thousands of trees where Manisa could truly breathe. This was our last unfinished dream with Ferdi. Sooner or later, it will surely be our destiny to realize this. Whether in this term or the next, Ferdi had such unfinished dreams. There are dreams that I know, that Nurcan knows, that his political friends know, and dreams he hadn't established yet but was likely to. All the dreams that Ferdi established or would have established are about people, about children, and about Manisa," he stated.

Noting that the first goal from now on is to provide scholarships to students, to look after Manisa's children living away from home, and to look after poor children who have come to Manisa, Özel concluded his speech as follows:

"This foundation needs bright ideas and it really needs support that is permanent and will grow over time. In this regard, I trust my fellow citizens, my mayors, and politicians. Manisa is a city of very beautiful people. Manisa is a city of ambitious beginnings. It is the city where Fatih Sultan Mehmet learned of his father's death, knelt on the ground, recited three Ikhlas and one Al-Fatiha, mounted his white horse, and said, 'Let those who love me follow me,' and it is the city from which the commander who would open an era and close an era within 2 years and conquer Istanbul set out for the capital, Edirne. That is why this beginning is being made again in the city of princes, in the Şehzadeler district. It is a good beginning. The intentions are pure, and the end will be successful. May it be auspicious. May your path be clear. Let the family that started working for Ferdi instead of mourning be an example to us all."

In the program, an oil painting of Ferdi Zeyrek's baby photo with his mother and father, which was commissioned by the Manisa Journalists Association President Önder Aydın and Board members to be painted by Artist Hidayet Gültekin before his death due to his contributions to the association, was gifted to the Foundation's founder and Board Chair Nurcan Zeyrek.

News Source: İHA