WALD II. E-PARLIAMENTARY YOUTH SESSION
The second of the WALD E-Parliamentary Youth Sessions was held with the participation of United Nations Turkey Resident Coordinator Alvaro ROGRIGUEZ, Mayor of Beykoz Murat Aydın, Head of Economic and Social Development Department of the European Union Delegation to Turkey Angel GUTIERREZ HIDALGO, Turkish-German University Faculty Members Prof. Dr. Burhanettin Aykut ARIKAN and Prof. Dr. Elif NUROĞLU on May 11, 2022, hosted by the Turkish-German University. Students from various countries, especially from Turkey, the USA, Romania, the Netherlands, and Belgium, participated in the meeting, which was held in a hybrid format.
WALD E-Parliamentary Youth Session started with the opening speeches of Mehmet DUMAN, Chairman of the World Academy of Local Government and Democracy (WALD). DUMAN in his speech stated that it is very valuable to be together with the youth, the leaders of the future, on this international platform and to exchange ideas about their living spaces within the framework of the "Sustainable Development Goals", which is one of the main international guides. Mr. DUMAN said that; “As WALD, we aim to provide interactive participation to young people from various countries of the world through the WALD E-Parliamentary Youth Platform, where young people who will be the leaders of the future can come together with policy-making leaders and take an active role and develop solutions to local and global problems”.
In the sessions moderated by WALD Chairman of the Executive Board Mehmet DUMAN, Sustainable Cities, one of the priority topics of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), were discussed.
UN Turkey Resident Coordinator ROGRIGUEZ said in his speech, "In today's world that urbanization has reached great dimensions, good planning and management in all countries is of great importance in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals." RODRIGUEZ also stated that Turkey's ratification of the Paris Climate Agreement and the "Climate Council" held in Konya are important actions taken to address climate change. In addition to this, he stated that developed, developing and underdeveloped countries have different possibilities and capacities to reduce carbon emissions, and underlined that as the UN, there is no sanction mechanism for countries with high carbon emissions and insufficient national contribution declarations compared to this.
Angel Gutierrez HIDALGO, Head of the Economic and Social Development Department of the European Union Delegation to Turkey, stated that platforms such as the WALD E-Parliamentary Youth Session, which brings together young people with decision-making leaders, are valuable because "2022 is the European Youth Year". With the effect of the climate change process we have experienced with Covid-19, actions have been taken to make a radical change in the EU; He emphasized that in this transformation process, they put the "Fair Transition Mechanism" at the center with the motto of "Leaving no one behind".
In his speech, Beykoz Mayor Murat AYDIN said, “Unfortunately, Turkey's urban planning is unfortunate in terms of sustainability, smart cities and related practices. "First life begins, the city is formed somehow, then planning comes later," he said. Stating that it is much easier to make life sustainable in an orderly city, Mayor Aydın concluded his speech with the following statements: "To make life sustainable in an unplanned city, to make people happy and to increase the quality of life requires a great deal of sacrifice and work."
In the sessions, which attracted a lot of attention at the international level and held as a hybrid model, the participants answered the questions of young people from Turkey and other countries about "SDG 11 Sustainable Cities and Communities". The program ended with a family photo shoot.
