Honourable Minister,

Honourable Deputy Chairman of the AK Party,

Honourable Members of Parliament,

Honourable Governor,

Honourable President of our MÜSİAD İzmir Branch,

Honourable Chairman of the MÜSİAD Construction and Building Materials Sector Board,

Esteemed professors,

Distinguished Presidents and Representatives of the Business and Political World, of Civil Society Organizations and of our Chambers,

Esteemed Members of the Press,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Distinguished guests,

Welcome to the Türkiye Consultation Meeting held under the theme “Discover Cities, Build Cities in the Century of Türkiye”; you have honoured us with your presence.

I greet you all with respect and affection.

I pray to Almighty God that our meeting will be a means of goodness.

Honourable Minister, distinguished guests,

MÜSİAD, which has reached a total of 165 branches and contact points on the international stage, both provides added value to the economy of Türkiye and leads the development of various forms of cooperation at home and abroad with its more than 13 thousand members and nearly 60 thousand companies.

MÜSİAD is not only a global platform of cooperation and capital but also a development movement that draws its strength from our rich values of civilization and from the wisdom of Anatolia. In this sense, our greatest wish is that the understanding of urbanism we want to build should be nourished by our ancient civilization and our rich history. Moreover, by taking lessons from what has been experienced in recent history, from disasters to distorted urbanization processes, we can prevent these mistakes from being repeated.

Honourable Minister, distinguished guests,

As Yahya Kemal expressed, our three arts apart from ‘founding states’ and ‘soldiering’ are ‘architecture’, ‘poetry’ and ‘music’. We are obliged to recapture our high, standard-setting line in architecture and to build exemplary cities.

As the late Turgut Cansever said, “Everything a person makes is a manifestation of his belief.” Our homes, our buildings and our cities are in fact like our mirror.

Let us build smart cities, but let us not neglect the heart of our cities. Let our cities be human-centred and virtuous, as they were in history. When we put the human being first, our cities also become green cities that are friendly to the environment, to nature and to animals.

Let us equip our cities with technological advances, but let us not kill the soul of our cities. From our home to our neighbourhood, from our village to our city, through the architecture we display we in fact reflect our soul, our vision and our understanding of existence. New generations too are shaped by this architecture we reflect, and they develop in a lofty atmosphere of civilization.

Honourable Minister, esteemed guests,

In the hundredth year of our Republic, we are organizing this meeting themed “Discover Cities, Build Cities in the Century of Türkiye” in order to create awareness. For, just as we have a deep-rooted and magnificent history, we also have ideals for our future.

As our President Mr. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan expressed at the Urbanism Council, “An urbanization that is orderly but has no character cannot be our ideal.”

As I conclude my words with these feelings and thoughts, I hope that our consultation meeting will be a means of goodness.

I extend my gratitude to our Honourable Minister and to you, our esteemed guests, for honouring us with your presence, and I offer you my respects.

Stay well. May God protect you.