AKP İstanbul Mayoral Candidate Kurum: 'We Will Build Underground Parking Lots in School Yards'

Kurum attended the School Parent-Teacher Association Meeting held in Bahçelievler. During the program, Kurum was accompanied by Bahçelievler District Governor Mehmet Boztepe, Bahçelievler Mayor Hakan Bahadır, and AKP İstanbul Provincial Women's Branch President Saliha Demirer.

At the program, Kurum was welcomed by Bahçelievler District Director of National Education Emin Çıkrıkçı, school principals, teachers, and numerous guests. 

"NONE OF OUR STUDENTS WILL HAVE ANY UNMET NEEDS"

Speaking at the program, AKP İstanbul Mayoral Candidate Murat Kurum said, "We know that no journey is as valuable as the journey of knowledge. No effort is as challenging as the fight against ignorance. A person's effort to learn and their battle against ignorance continue throughout their life.

Undoubtedly, you are the ones carrying the torch in this race. While continuing your own lifelong learning journey, you are also raising generations by performing the extremely sacred duty of teaching. We want to make your lives easier in this effort of education and training.

We do not want our teachers to struggle with the city's problems and difficulties while performing such a sacred duty. Unfortunately, due to the irresponsibility and negligence of the current Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (IBB) administration, which does not prioritize Istanbul today, our teachers and students face many problems while going to their schools. They suffer for hours in traffic." 

We have rolled up our sleeves for a more livable Istanbul for our teachers and students. Hopefully, we want Istanbul to no longer be a city of difficulties, but one of ease; a city where our teachers and children do not struggle, but live in peace and security. Our hand will always be on our more than 3 million students and in the hands of our more than 1 million teachers. None of our students will have any unmet needs. 

Our teachers will not have to endure great hardship in traffic to get to their schools. They will raise our children and youth in a much more comfortable city, an Istanbul free of worries and troubles. We want being a teacher or a student in Istanbul to be a privilege. A student going to school should feel valuable and precious. We will carry out these efforts in cooperation with school parent-teacher associations," he said.

"WE WILL MAKE OUR SCHOOLS READY FOR EARTHQUAKES AND DISASTERS"

Emphasizing the reality of earthquakes in Istanbul, Kurum said, "When the earthquake struck, you rushed to the earthquake zone with our school parent-teacher association members. You extended a helping hand to our 14 million citizens in our 11 provinces during the disaster of the century. We are a nation that knows how to be one, to support each other, and to be a single heart in difficult times. We will continue to be the hope of both our families and our youth with better and more efficient education conditions."

We want to make the physical conditions of our schools better than they were before. As soon as we take office, we will make all our schools ready for earthquakes and disasters with our 'Resilient Istanbul' goal, in coordination with our Ministry of National Education. Istanbul has an earthquake reality. 

We do not want more homes to be devastated, and we do not want more of our mothers and fathers to be saddened and weep. With the 'Resilient Istanbul' approach, we will exert every necessary will to the end for the transformation of every risky structure in this city. 

Moving beyond workshops on this issue, the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality will work with all its units to take action in the field and realize these actions. The current administration has no promise that goes beyond workshops. No will has been demonstrated to eliminate the earthquake risk for our nation. We want to carry out the transformation of 650,000 residences," he said.

"I WILL SPEND THE LARGEST SHARE OF THE IMM BUDGET ON EARTHQUAKE TRANSFORMATION"

Explaining the projects he will implement upon taking office, Kurum said, "Whatever the cost, as soon as I take office, I will spend the largest share of the IMM budget on earthquake transformation. Our other important task will be to solve the traffic ordeal that steals three and a half years from our lives. To solve the traffic problem, we will double the metro lines in 5 years with the understanding that there will not be a single district in Istanbul without a metro connection."

With our new tunnel, highway, and the project to extend the Metrobus line to Silivri, we will reduce travel time from 64 minutes to 39 minutes.

We will implement a transportation system where people know exactly where they are going and when, just as it is in the rest of the world. You will be able to entrust your child to the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality in 24/7 daycare centers and go about your work. 

You will have peace of mind. We will make public transportation free for all our primary school students. Our young people receiving education and our families will feel that studying here is valuable. They will bring our country to the level of contemporary civilizations envisioned by Gazi Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. We will provide sustainable, permanent support, similar to the capital support we will give to our women and young people starting their first businesses. 

As we take a step today, we want to design projects by thinking 5-10 years ahead. As the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality, we will meet the cleaning and security needs of our schools, as well as the demands regarding the nutritional needs of our children there,' he stated.

'WE WILL BUILD UNDERGROUND PARKING LOTS IN SCHOOL YARDS'

Expressing that there will be very different collaborations with schools, Kurum said, 'We will have very different collaborations in our schools. Our schools, school principals, and school parent-teacher association presidents will always feel the Metropolitan Municipality right by their side. We will provide our schools with underground parking lots that will meet both the school's needs and the needs of our teachers and parents, through the protocols we will sign for school yards. 

We will build underground parking lots in school yards. These parking lots will meet the needs of both parents at the school and our citizens in the neighborhood. While the surface will be a neighborhood garden or a public park with green spaces for young people and children to play, there will be an underground parking lot beneath it. We will take steps together to solve both the traffic and parking problems, as well as to create shelter areas in case of an earthquake,' he said.

News Source: İHA