Ekrem İmamoğlu's statement on the Princes' Islands: 'We are obliged to do this'

Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu made important statements at the 'Metro Istanbul Badge Ceremony'.

Responding at the ceremony to the Ministry of Interior's figure of 1 million 87 thousand 17 refugees, which contradicts his own statement in Germany that there are nearly 2.5 million refugees in Istanbul, İmamoğlu said the following:

There is an official population of nearly 16 million in Istanbul. But unfortunately, there are also those who have arrived at levels we do not desire.

-We are not talking about students or tourists. There is a number of people arriving in our city simultaneously that exceeds 1 million, which already puts us over 17 million.

-When I say 'undesired,' we are a country where people fleeing difficult conditions also arrive. Some of this is also due to the mismanagement of foreign policy, which has led to excessive numbers.

-I say there are over 2 million. Some give a figure of 1 million 53 thousand. They don't even believe it themselves. Let them add up the figures from the district municipalities, and the data will go even higher.

İmamoğlu continued his remarks as follows:

"Neither I nor my colleagues would ever engage in any behavior that would harm our high-level, sincere dialogue with the people of the Princes' Islands. The people of the Islands know best how populist and participatory a model we managed during the process of removing the phaetons (horse-drawn carriages) in order to end the cruelty the horses were subjected to on the Islands. In our understanding of politics, listening to people who express their reactions is our most important nature. Of course, I hear and understand the reaction. After removing the phaetons on the Islands, we have an obligation to provide public transport. The Islands cannot be without public transport. 70 percent of the Islands' population consists of middle-aged and elderly citizens. Our people have a necessity to benefit from public transport. There is a necessity to access cemeteries, hospitals, and public institutions in these places. On holidays, there are sometimes over 60 thousand visitors to the Islands. There is a necessity for public transport on the Islands. There are defined vehicles for public transport. You cannot license or register vehicles other than these. We received temporary permits during the period we removed the phaetons. Since that day, we have been in an intensive effort regarding the design of vehicles suitable for the Islands. Our work continues on the production of a vehicle that can be licensed with a different design, but there is no such possibility at the moment. The vehicles we currently offer for service are vehicles used in the historical districts of historical cities like Rome."

News Source: 12punto