Minister of Treasury and Finance Mehmet Şimşek held meetings in his hometown of Batman. Attending the 'stone-laying' ceremony held at the historic Virgin Mary Church in the Sason district, where a restoration process has been initiated, Şimşek gave the good news of metropolitan status to his hometown, Batman.
In his speech, Şimşek stated, “Batman is moving with confident steps toward becoming a metropolitan municipality. Its population is 654 thousand, and it will exceed 750 thousand in the coming period. Hopefully, this place will also attain metropolitan status.”
According to legislation, for a province to become a metropolitan municipality, its population must be at least 750 thousand. According to the report by Zekeriya Albayrak from Sözcü, in addition to this, criteria such as having a surface area of over 2 thousand square kilometers, the level of economic development, and the number of districts are also taken into consideration.
Batman is expected to meet this criterion in the coming years with a population increase of approximately 96 thousand. It is not just Batman; Sivas, Tokat, Adıyaman, and Elazığ are also candidates on the path to becoming metropolitan municipalities as their populations approach 750 thousand.
News Source: 12punto
