Young Leaders of the Future from Turkiye and Europe Gathered at the Bagcilar Municipal Assembly Session...

The "European Green Deal and Active Citizenship Training" was organized within the scope of the European Youth Alliance for a Green Future project carried out by WALD with an international consortium. In the training hosted by Altınbaş University and Bağcılar Municipality, students from the Belgian, North Macedonian and Romanian partners of the project took part. One of the most important sessions of the seven-day training in Istanbul was the 'Municipal Assembly Session'.

The Assembly Session moderated by WALD Chairman of the Executive Board Dr. Mehmet Duman lasted about three hours. At the opening of the session; Bagcilar Municipality Deputy Mayor Dr. Ertuğrul Selçuk Güldüler gave information about the works and projects carried out by the municipality within the framework of the Green Deal. Bagcilar Municipality Mayor Abdullah Özdemir, who came to the floor after the briefing, in his speech expressed his pleasure in hosting the young people who aim to be the leaders of the future through this international platform, he answered the questions from the youth and explained the examples of good practices implemented in accordance with the green deal principles in Bağcılar district. During the session, the young leaders of the future had the chance to ask today's leaders and experts in the field many questions about "A Green Future, active citizenship differences and similarities in Europe and Turkiye" and "citizen's contribution to mitigating the effects of climate change".

In this special session, which was organized to enable European youth to see the Municipal Assembly Session, which is the local decision-making authority, and Turkiye’s implementation practices in local governments; 5 Belgian, 5 North Macedonian and 5 Romanian undergraduate, graduate and doctoral students took part. Volunteer youth of WALD Academy from Turkiye and members of Bağcılar Municipality Youth Assembly also took part in this session as participants.

In this special session moderated by  WALD Chairman of the Executive Board Dr. Mehmet Duman; all students asked their questions to Mayor of Bağcılar Municipality Abdullah Özdemir together with Deputy Mayor Dr. Ertuğrul Selçuk Güldüler and the experts from the relevant units of the municipality participating in the program. Also in the session; With the perspective put forward in the field of “Green Deal”, practices in different countries and local policy differences were also discussed.