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World Mayor Nominations 2021
Mansur Yavas, Mayor of Ankara, Turkey The 2021 World Mayor Prize and Commendations will be conferred on mayors who have been showing leadership during the Covid-19 pandemic and who are now aiming to make their cities more resilient economically, structurally, socially and environmentally. In fact: Stronger | Fairer | Greener. The organisers of the World Mayor Project are looking for mayors who have shown exceptional leadership skills but also, and more importantly, acted at all times with compassion towards those most affected by Covid-19. The pandemic has shown how vulnerable even the richest cities are when confronted with a disaster like Covid-19. Forward-looking city leaders will now begin to re-think how their communities can be better protected against future threats, both natural and man-made. Mansur Yavas, Mayor of Ankara, Turkey, has been shortlisted for the 2021 World Mayor Prize. |
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| FRONT PAGE About World Mayor City Mayors Foundation    WORLD MAYOR 2021 - The Winners - The Project - The Finalists - The Shortlist - The Longlist - Selection criteria - Covid-19 - World Mayor history - World Mayor Sculpture - Poverty - Code of Ethics - Press & Media INTERVIEWS - Mayor of Ankara - Mayor of Braga - Mayor of Bratislava - Mayor of Grigny - Maire de Grigny - Mayor of Rotterdam - Mayor of Saint-Omer - Mayor of San Bellino - Sindaco di San Bellino - Mayor of Villa del Conte ESSAYS - Mayor of Ankara - Mayor of Braga - Mayor of Bratislava - Mayor of Grigny - Maire de Grigny - Mayor of Mannheim - Mayor of Raqqa - Mayor of Rotterdam - Mayor of Saint-Omer - Maire de Saint-Omer - Mayor of San Bellino - Sindaco di San Bellino TESTIMONIALS - Mayor of Amsterdam - Mayor of Ankara - Mayor of Arnhem - Mayor of Bergamo - Mayor of Bogotá - Mayor of Braga - Mayor of Bratislava - Mayor of Buenos Aires - Mayor of Carmignano - Mayor of Cascais - Mayor of Compton - Mayor of Dantumadiel - Mayor of Freetown - Mayor of Grenoble - Mayor of Grigny - Mayor of Guarulhos - Mayor of Kuala Lumpur - Mayor of Mannheim - Mayor of Mexico City - Mayor of Milan - Mayor of Raqqa - Mayor of Rostock - Mayor of Rotterdam - Mayor of Saint-Omer - Mayor of San Bellino - Mayor of Villa del Conte - Mayor of Warsaw WORLD MAYOR 2018 WORLD MAYOR 2016 WORLD MAYOR 2014 WORLD MAYOR 2012 WORLD MAYOR 2010 WORLD MAYOR 2008 WORLD MAYOR 2006 WORLD MAYOR 2005 WORLD MAYOR 2004 |
Nominations for Mansur Yavas Mayor of Ankara (Turkey) Page 1 | Page 2 | Page 3 | Page 4 | Page 5 | Page 6 | Page 7 | Page 8 | Page 9 | Page 10 | Nominated by Ziya A., Turkey: I am writing to express that the Mayor of Ankara Mr Yavas has been conducting his duties in an excellent way at this very challenging time. Especially his policies regarding poor people, refugees, transparency in public auctions, support for agriculture and public transportation has been very efficient. Nominated by Rüzgar B., Turkey: Benim adım Rüzgar. 8 yaşındayım. 4. Sınıfa gidiyorum. Izmir'den yazıyorum. Mansur dedeyi çok seviyorum. İngilizce bilmediğim için Türkçe yazıyorum. Dünya başkanı olması için Mansur dedeye oy vermek istiyorum. Ankara'daki çocuklar internete bedava giriyorlar Mansur Dede sayesinde. Annem çalışmadığı için faturamızı bazen ödeyemiyor ben ebaya giremiyorum mesela. Oyun videolarını çok seviyorum, Mansur Dede selam çet diye oyun videosu çekilen yere girdi. Demek ki benim dedem gibi değil oyunları da seviyor. Sonra Mansur Dedemin kedisi var, ben kedileri çok seviyorum. Kalesi çok güzel bir kedi. Hayvanları çok seviyor. Annem'le tibitırdan izliyorum herşeyi. Mansur dedecim benim annem, babam ayrılar, dedemin biri çok yaşlı anlamıyor, diğeri genç ama oda anlamıyor zaten çok görmüyorum ama seni çok görüyorum, annem izletiyor. Bende İkizler burcuyum, annem senin gibi olabileceğimi söyledi. Mansur Dede, okulda yapılan yazılıda hangi şehirde yaşamak istersiniz dediler bende Ankara çünkü Atatürk var dedim. Artık sende varsın. Ben sana oy veriyorum lütfen yazın olur mu. Annem yanlış yazdıklarımı düzeltir. İşalla beğenirsin seni çok seviyorum başarılar diliyorum. Rüzgar Nominated by Elif D. D., Ankara: Mansur Yavaş should win the 2021 World Mayor prize because he is one of the great politicians in Turkey. And in a country like Turkey, it is a rare thing you can have. As you can see our country has been dealing with economic corruption in many areas. Thanks to Mansur Yavaş the whole our country is now able to see that what a mayor can do for a city. He brought internet infrastructure services to every single villages in Ankara so that students can join online education. And he did that for free. Even Now in Turkey many students still suffer from inequality with the reason lacking of internet. He bought the agricultural products from the farmers who couldn’t sell to other marketing organizations with a reasonable price. And then, distributed those products to the poor who affected economically because of pandemic. As a citizen I really appreciate what Mansur Yavas did for Ankara and hope to see him as a president of Turkey in the foreseeable future. Nominated by Kübra Ö., Ankara: Covid 19 ün ilk zamanlarında bir cok terzi dükkanını kapatmak zorunda kalırken Mansur Yavaş bu terzileri kendi oluşturduğu alana toplayarak terzilerin kendi makinelerini getirmesini istemiş , ve onlara ücret karşılığında maske diktirmiştir. Bu şekilde hem toplumun ihtiyacı olan maske üretimine katkıda bulunmuşlardır hemde kendileri ücret kazanmışlardır . Ayrıca herşey den önce insanı önceleyen yaklaşımıyla insanın temel ihtiyacı olan beslenme konusunda sokaktaki insanlara günlük yemek dağıtımı yapılmaktadır . Yine ayrıca yaptığı bir çok çalışmayı topluma alenen sunmakta , neden sonuç ilişkisiyle herşeyi bildirerek toplumun tarafsız sorgulamasını sağlamaktadır. Çiftçinin tohum alıp Ekim yapamadığı şu süreçte ücretsiz tohum desteğinde bulunarak çiftçinin işsiz kalmamasını sağlamıştır. Belediyeye ait arazileri tarım alanı olarak kullanıyor ve buradan elde edilen domates . Biber , patlıcan ve bir cok sebze çeşidini soğuk hava depolarında muhafaza ederek ihtiyacı olan ailelere haftalık dağıtıyor . Madde bağımlılarının topluma kazandırılması ve bir el becerisine sahip olmaları için , sağlık li bir birey olarak hayatına devam ederken keyif alacak bir aktiviteyi de öğrenmeleri için çeşitli eğitimlerin yer aldığı atölye kurulmuştur . Nominated by Gökçen B., Ankara: I vote for Mansur Yavaş. It is really hard to explain his deeds because he did not only serve to the city people and their needs but also, he started to repair our broken hope. This hope included that we deserve to be thought by the mayor, that we deserve to live in a better city and we deserve to be treated as human beings. If you do not know the political and social climate in Turkey, I know, it is really hard to imagine what I say. Yet, Ankara had a mayor who served only for himself and did not let anyone to speak or tell the really basic needs as a citizen for too long that we lost our hope and forgot our democratic rights. Then, Mansur Yavaş selected as the mayor and he started to serve city people in general and to the people in need in particular. Before, we felt that we were forgotten and will not be heard anymore. Mansur Yavaş surprised us by listening and finding logical solutions to our needs while still harboring the people at the city council who are supporters of previous mayor and try their best to prevent Mansur Yavaş to serve Ankara citizens. Especially during Covid-19 pandemic, the trades people, the farmers, unemployed people in Turkey had really troubled times and Mansur Yavaş started to buy from local producers and trades people to help the people in need. For the first time, we realized that we deserve to live in a humane way and someone is supporting us by performing his job perfectly. Moreover, it was beyond a dream that Ankara’s mayor to know he has responsibilities to nature and takes precautions against climate change. It was beyond a dream since we exposed the deeds of previous king; sorry “mayor” for so long and have problems in very simple infrastructure services so that we learned to expect nothing and try to solve our problems personally. As I said, it is really hard to imagine what we exposed so called municipality services for many years that we lost our hope that it could change one day. Mansur Yavas¸ restored our hope, provided services that we need and reminded us that he was there to serve for us rather than city people being there to serve for the mayor. Nominated by Gizem H., Ankara: This letter accompanies my vote for Mayor Mansur Yavas for the World Mayor Award 2021. I would like to mention his most important (in my view) and incredible achievement since he sat in the office. When the pandemic first hit, all schools have converted their education online. However, Turkey as a developing country has many rural areas where households do not have internet connection, or even tvs. Mansur Yavas, no matter whether that area was a part of Ankara or not has allocated many sources and cooperated with phone and internet companies to provide stable internet connection to school children for proper education. Thanks to him, there are many children right now who are able to access information and get equal education as their peers in urban areas. I thank you for such an opportunity, kind regards. Nominated by Ceren Z., Ankara: I am a 25-year-old woman living in Ankara. We could not get any help from people before our Mansur President. On the contrary, we were exploited. Mansur Yavaş is a blessing to us. During the pandemic period, he helped tradesmen who were caught between the entire neighbourhood. While the governments sew masks to the big store chains, Mansur Yavaş made them sew by the artisan tailors. He paid the market debts of the people of Ankara. He delayed his house bills. He insured people who collected paper on the street. There are many things I cannot count. One man touched the hearts of all of Turkey. We love Mansur Yavaş very much. I hope he wins. :) Nominated by Sila U., Ankara: Mansur Yavaş who is the Mayor of Ankara, has shown incredible resilience and determination during the pandemic. He closely followed and inquired every complaint or request coming from his citizens. During the pandemic, as the schools were closed, much higher demand and need for fast and accessible internet connection was a must. In small villages and rural areas of the city, primary schoolchildren and their parents asked Mr. Yavas for a healthy internet connection as they had none and couldn’t access their lessons. Mansur Yavas immediately acted and made this possible for all those children. For the first time, the meetings in which the decisions are made for the city were broadcasted online and live, and this was a fresh start for all the citizens as transparency was ensured. During the pandemic, many businesses were closed and people were suffering due to economic problems. Mansur Yavas encouraged people to help each other out via a platform, in which donations were made and that helped people in need a lot. He transparently disclosed the budget and where and how they are going to spend money only for the best interest of the people. He is strongly against luxury expenses and so far demonstrated that he is genuinely here only to serve people in the best way possible. He is in close contact with the youth as well, trying to communicate with the younger population via various platforms, in which he has immense support from. We feel extremely lucky and proud to have an honest and hard-working mayor like Mr. Yavas as the Mayor of Ankara. Nominated by Dicle B., Turkey: Hi I want to vote for Mansur Yavas Ankara/Turkey his achievements as mayor started at Beypazari (town in the district of Ankara Province).Because of his successful approach the town is included in the worlds cultural heritage list. Now he is doing his best in the pandemic crisis such as social public order and health functions. Nomnated by Eren T., Ankara: First of all, I would like to thank the City Mayors Foundation team for nominating Mansur Yavaş. I'm 16 years old and living in Turkey. I prefer my sentences to be short. The reason why I think Mansur Yavas is the best mayor is that its purpose is really to do useful things for the people of Ankara and the Turkish nation. He gives us hope in this corrupted country. Nominated by Gökhan D., Ankara: Ankara was a big corruption city. These corruptions ended when he become city of mayor. He started being Ankara mayor with over a debt of 3 billion 484 million 489 thousand 406 TL and he paid 305 million 821 thousand 757 TL of this debt in 200 days as a result of savings and "no corruption" policies. He gave big support to local sellers in Corona days. He is the only one who makes live broadcasting of all tenders on social media. Also all spendings publicly available for citizens. Citizens of Ankara can watch road status on snowy days. Because all municiple vehicles has cameras and they are live streaming. So people see all works on these snowy days. I think it's first time in the world. He is helping children of low-income families. Also students get free ticket charge for bus transports. Thank you for nominating him as one of the candidates. Nominated by Sedar, Ankara: My name is Serdar, I am a citizen of Ankara since 2008. I saw many different mayors in Ankara and other cities that I lived. Mr Mansur Yavas won the election in March 2019 and Ankara changed so much since the election day in positive way. He is not mayor, he is one of the family member for us. He touched lives of every Ankara citizens, especially in pandemic days. He helped all of people which suffered from pandemic in economic or psychological ways. Although he has so much enemies in strong politic community and their fans, he works for all people and we feel his effort. He did revolution in saving, social welfare, projects that touches directly citizens of Ankara and most importantly in transparency of mayor works. He is doing revolution in Turkish politics and deserves this award so hard. Thanks and regards, Nominated by D. Gizem Ç., Ankara: The mayor of Ankara (capital of Turkey) Mr. Mansur YAVAŞ, has been successfully carrying out his mayorship since his election in 2019. Although it is difficult for me to sequence his all activities here, I will try my best to do because he really deserves to get the 2021 World Mayor Award. Mr Yavaş’s understanding of mayorship is mostly based on protecting and helping people who are poor, needy and requires aid to maintain their life in a way compatible with human dignity. Since the beginning of COVID 19 pandemic, under his leadership, the municipality has initiated campaigns for those needy people. The most important feature of this campaign is that the people who need help and those who wants to help, do not know and see each other. By these campaigns benefactors have paid the water bills, load credits for transportation cards, put money into their bank account and bought food packages for those needy people registered in the data network of the municipality. Mr. Yavaş has also made significant contributions for trades people since the beginning of the pandemic. The municipality has decided not to collect the rent for their tenants for the first 6 months of 2021 and also not to make any increase for the rents in 2021. The municipality also published the list of the restaurants, cafes etc. which are in financial difficulties to make people support them by buying some foods when they need to order foods, meals etc. Besides, the municipality has also supported the people who are under quarantine and have to stay at home by delivering their daily meals. In the case that the number of those people who are under quarantine exceeds the capacity of kitchen of municipality, the municipality has bought the meals from the small scale restaurants. By this way, they have also given support to these restaurants. So dual beneficiary is present in this process. Since the education became as “distance education” after the pandemic, some children whose family are economically weak, could not reach this education either because of lack of internet or lack of computer or tablet. Especially the students in rural parts of Ankara, has been affected severely because of lack of internet infrastructure. Mansur YAVAŞ provided free internet to all villages of Ankara within a very short period of time by constructing necessary infrastructure. Not only for those students who have become disadvantaged because of the distance education, free internet has also been provided for the children of the families who are getting social aid from the municipality. The municipality has also put the computers of the municipality into service with the appointment system, for the children who do not have computer and needy. In addition to these activities realized around the issue of pandemic, Mr. Yavas¸ has also carried out ordinary municipality activities that needs to be conducted in normal process. These can be counted as support to farmers (seed support, manure support etc.), recovery and construction of new roads, recovery of infrastructure (the change of asbestic water pipelines), making transparent tenders by publishing them in a live broadcast, paying the state (national) exam fees of the students who are incapable of paying the fee but have to take the exam to maintain their education life etc. The most current activity is the project of “capital of the green” which aims to plant some points in Ankara by planting trees with the support of the donors. From a website people can choose the region and the kind of tree that wants to be planted and make the payment. They can either buy on their behalf or on behalf of anyone else as a gift. Nominated by Rüzgar A., Ankara: As a young resident living in Ankara, Turkey I, Ruzgar, wish to express my complete support in the rightful claim of Mr. Yavas regarding the “World Mayor” title for the year 2021. Mr. Yavas has been nothing but perfect in his duties as the Mayor of the capital city of Turkey. In a country where legal issues and inequality has been on the rise, he has been the beacon of hope and equality in his past 2 years of duty. In the beginning of the pandemic, Mansur YAVAS took the initiative to gather resources to aid those in need by creating a bank account and announcing that the money collected will be used to aid those in need. Although these harmless aid plans were halted by the authorities, Mansur YAVAS did everything he could with his powers as the Mayor of Ankara to aid the workplace owners and those in need of even the slightest help. He decreased the rent of all workplaces rented from the Ankara Municipality and halted any payments towards the municipality in the first months of the pandemic. He also ordered the waterworks (ASKI) owned by the Ankara Municipality to halt any actions against those who couldn’t pay their water bills to keep the taps flowing during the pandemic to keep the hygiene rates up. All mothers working in any sub-companies of the municipality would be on paid leave during the pandemic to allow them to spend time and take care of their children. Mansur YAVAS also created task groups within the municipality to disinfect any and all public workplaces free of charge to decrease the rate of infectivity. During the pandemic, due to the fact that there have been lots of female deaths in Turkey, he named one of the parks built “Sule Cet”. That is the name of a woman whose murderers conviction would not have been possible if it wasn’t for the public outrage. He wanted to raise awareness on the issue by naming the park “Sule Cet” even if it meant him sparing his time from his daily work during the pandemic. Im sure the City Mayors Foundation is aware of all his works and im sure you will receive other emails stating his other equally important and amazing works that I’ve forgot to mention. What I wish to put an emphasis on is the fact that Mansur YAVAS, has been the spearhead of a country wide change. The previous mayor of Ankara had been the mayor for 25 years. Not only did the resources and wealth of our beloved city were embezzled by the previous administration, they also caused the light of hope and love towards our city, our values of justice and equality to diminish, to a level where we, as the youth, fell into depression. Mr. YAVAS restored the strength and faith among us all. He has been suing the previous misconducts along with any and all that might have been done by his workers during his term. He has been gathering evidence to aid the prosecution to claim the rightful place of justice in the inner workings of our capital. There is no doubt that he has placed himself in our hearts as one of the best mayors Turkey could have ever seen. The fact that he had been pursuing these goals during the pandemic to help claim what was lost by our citizens is astonishing at the very least, if not unbelievable. Whether he wins those cases or not, im sure the outcome will serve our people, with the leadership of Mansur YAVAS in place. I have no doubt that the work completed by him in the remaining 3 years of his term will be upheld by the mayors across the world as example and will set an example for future generations of mayors. Feel free to use the contact information given below to clear any and all questions you may have. Thank you for your time and thank you for considering Mr. YAVAS as a candidate for this position. I have full faith in him that he is worthy of the title. Nominaed by Murat U., Ankara: Let me express my feelings about our cities mayor, Mansur Yavas, a.k.a. Mansur Baskan. He's doing a tremendous job even though the central government puts blockages in front of him for his every move. Despite these blockages, he always found a way to reach to the public, especially to the ones in need. He's applications are the definition of Social Justice. He has many supporters, much more than the election results. This means he even has gained respect from the rivals. Please choose him, as this will be the right choice. Nominated by Burcu K., Ankara: Dear Jury, To make Ankara a greener, cleaner, more beautiful, sustainable, healthy and modern city with high quality of life ... Since the day our president arrived, we have started every new day with the projects he has brought to life. Building the capital of the future green and livable. fortunately he became president. Because we are more hopeful. Nominated by Yavuz Ö., Ankara: I support Mr. Mansur Yavaş. Because Mansur is honest. Life for this city, a patriot dedicated to Turkey. It does not corrupt. The previous period has almost closed all the debts made. And without any support from the state. He manages Ankara by making savings. I wish he ruled in Turkey also. She produces projects for homeless and unemployed youth, including street animals. It manages the budget of Ankara in the most fair way. It manages the process without difficulty with the precautions it has taken in times of crisis. He loves his people and behaves mercifully. With the smart phone applications it puts into practice, it reaches all complaints instantly. He follows the welfare of his people day and night through this application. We are very pleased with Mansur Yavaş. I think he deserves to be elected the best Mayor in the world. Nominated by Murat S., Ankara: Dear sir/mam, the mayor of Anakara has succeeded many important things since he was elected in 2019. I'd like the give some examples about his works. 1.As soon as he was elected he allocated economical vehicles instead of luxurious ones in the municipality. 2.He sponsored 22 nd Flying Broom International Women's Film festival. 3.He saved billions of liras in many tenders and contracts. 4.He also limited the number of leased vehicles. 5.He gave an order to his staff to establish electric car charge units and accumulation pools for rain water in new housing areas. 6.He continued to support 75.000 low-income families not diectly sending food but giving them a special shopping card. 7.All the municipality tenders and contracts have been realized in live TV broadcasts. 8. He continued to deal with street animals. 9. In some parks some monuments had disappeared. He put new monuments instead of the lost ones. For example İlhan Koman's monument in Segmenler Park. 10. There was a green site tender cost 400 million liras. He broadcasted it live on YouTube. 11. He gave an order to make a %50 discount in students' water bills. 12. In the municipality building high ranked officials and low ranked officials were having their meals in different mess halls. Now the mess halls were united. 13. He started a big project called Ulus Historical City Center in order to make this area attractive. 14. Seven underpasses were completed in a very short time. 15. 110.000 tons of asphalt were done. 16.Import trees and flowers were banned. Instead the city garnished with local trees and flowers. 17. He provided the cheapest transportation for especially students and older people. 18.He started many water pipe line and infrastructure projects. 19. He built a park named 30 Agustos Zafer Parkı. 20.He started a bike road project which is 53,6 kilometers. I just mentioned some of his works he has done many more. Nominated by Haci A. I., Turkey: I'm a 26 years old and living in İstanbul, Turkey. I'd like to keep it brief. The reasons why I think Mansur Yavaş is the best mayor is because • He made us believe again, • He made us dream again, • He showed us there's someone who understands us, • He puts his effort to reach our hearts. Nominated by Derya K., Ankara: Mansur Yavaş is not only a Mayor of Ankara but an idol who sows the seeds of hope again within us, who treats everyone equally after years of such despair. In his work, he sought to provide equal services to all those who do not live on equal conditions and ensured that all auctions transparently took place so that no one received an unfair annuity. Ankara has taken into account the priorities of its people and engaged in necessary work. He extended his hand to every Ankara person who experienced difficulties during the pandemic. He made an awareness study for people who could not pay their debts or bills to the grocery store, and called for good people with the financial condition to help them, and showed that many borrowers were with them in a difficult time. He also revised and electrified the old buses, thus preventing greenhouse gas production. Maybe these characteristics are not enough to be the mayor of the world, but words are not enough to explain their importance to people living in Turkey. Nominated by Ayça S., Ankara: Hello: This mail was shared for my hearings where Mansur Yavaş was nominated for the World Mayor award. Translated translation was used due to the lack of knowledge of English. Even if our president, Mr. Mansur, did not receive an award, he became a person who won hearts. When we look in general, I appreciate the separation between work and politics and his approach and style in every situation. We are very happy that he is a social municipality and a person with a high sense of responsibility and that he is always with the young people. A president who loves nature, protects animal rights and can support women by supporting them, a president we dream of. A loving president for his country and nation Nominated by Alper A., Ankara: First, who am I? I am Alper and I live in ANKARA, Turkey. I'm an electronics engineer who works in the defence industry. I studied in Coventry, Uk and i am a born and raised "Ankaralı (which means from Ankara in Turkish)" I would like to cast my vote to Mansur Yavaş and i want to tell you reasons why, briefly; I can go on and on about how he is the best and the things he has done for infrastructure, water, greenness, social help or general projects for my city. But since this is not an essay and I want to keep this short i want to talk about how he makes me feel as a resident of Ankara and I want to give an example for it. I was in the city center and was travelling to a shopping mall near Eskişehir Road and i go down to a tunnel road and saw a banner that said "this tunnel is been completed for 21 million lira's with your money" and the headline was "we owe an explanation for spending your money" i was in awe moment since we are not use to seeing such things in our country. A mayor saying " i did this with your money " is a strange feeling for me. When I arrived at the mall I went to the atm area to pay my water bill and saw it's 5 lira, 5 lira!! I'm not a student, I'm not a person that gets social care from the government but 1 lira? I said it can't be true because i'm used to getting 50-60 Lira water bill every month. I later found out that the Mansur Yavas administration gave a discount and delayed most of the water bills for a couple of months because of the pandemic... Later that day when i arrived home i saw a couple of recycling bins(it's not usual to have one in Turkey unfortunately, i am used to walking 10 blocks just to recycle my glasses and plastic.). I am not exaggerating that I had tears in my eyes. I called them 1 day before ! 1 day ! and it was in front of my door. Now whenever i walk, ride or drive in this city i feel like if something bad happens to me Mansur Yavaş's team will be there to pick me up or help me. I know all the instances I talked about are not NEW or ground breaking (I lived in Earls Court, London for a couple of years and i have that reference in my head whenever i am comparing mayorship.) But what I am trying to say is that. This guy's existence keeps me happy as a resident. I know my problems will be heard, I know my taxes are not wasted, I know he is not spending on fancy cars or his friends but he is doing his job. We are not used to this. So what i am trying to say is, you would easily find a better organized city but you can't find another guy that cares this much about his residents. I am not saying he is the messiah or anything but the hope he gives the young generation about our political figures is something special. You can't match that with anything else. He gives hope that non-dirty politicians and people that just want to be civil servants exist in my country. I'm 28 and this is my first taste of democracy in my own country. You can't match that anything else. I hope he wins. Nominated by Emine M. T., Ankara: He is a Visionary... He proved how generous and moral mayoralty is done. Conscientious and egalitarian at every step he takes There are so many things that have been resolved with him... In the entire pandemic process, it untied every node that was stuck not only for the people of Ankara, but also for the entire country. In online education, he gave free internet to children who don't have internet in their village, has set up infrastructure, He bought the products of farmers in other cities whose exports had stopped, providing free food to the needy. It has created new agricultural areas, seed and production opportunities for farmers in Ankara. Without hurting the people who couldn't pay their bills, the situation became in solidarity with the wealthier. He always found ways to be united, to be one, to reduce our common concerns. If you ask Who The Statesman is, Mansur slow gentleman is first in line. I don't know what ranking the world mayor will be in 2021, but I do know that he has conquered the hearts of all of Turkey and our citizens living outside Turkey our faith in him is eternal... May our prayers and love be with him... Nominated Hüdai S., Ankara: I am born and raised citizen of Turkey and Ankara. Mansur Yavaş has been elected nearly 2 years ago and I have never heard someone tell something bad about him, even if they are in the opposition party. He did many good things, such as aiding poor people in coronavirus times, helping musicians, always being in side of people of Ankara, trying to use all budget of Ankara Municipality in terms of benefit of Ankara people. There ard many many things to say about him, but these are words out of my heart and Ankara's people heart. He needs to be mayor of world, he deserves it. Nominated by Betil E., Ankara: I cannot list all the things here that Mr Yavas has done and achieved as a Mayor of Ankara since he was elected, pages are not enough about it. Instead of this, I just can try to describe to you the "feeling" which resulted from all his actions and practices. Today (March, 31) is the second anniversary of Mr Yavas's election. Of course we had already been believe in him before we already vote. However, especially during these covid-19 pandemic days, he became the center of hopes in not just Ankara, probably in whole country. As you know, Ankara is the capital of Turkey since the foundation of our country. Unfortunately, the city had not been treated like a capital since 20-25 years. But after the election of Mr. Yavas, that story has started to change. Because his performance and actions as a mayor of the capital, started to be an example for all politicians in the country. Ankara became the decision making and example point of Turkey again. I do not know Mr Yavas is going to be chosen as a "World Mayor" or not but as a result of his actions, as a 45-year-old Ankara citizen, I have been started to be proud of my city again. Now, after two years of his election, I know that Ankara is going to be the most green & human focused city in the country within a short period of time. This feeling is much more important to me than the prize. Nominated by Cosmo R., Ankara: I live in Ankara. Mr Yavaş has been in office a relatively short time. And in this period he has done wonders for the community and city despite the opposition party delagates. Especially during the Covid19 period he was very helpful to people who lost jobs and had problems to bring food to their homes or had trouble paying their rent and even domestic bills. He started campaigns to collect money for these people. Besides this,he is improving many aspects of the city like streets, squares and public transportation. The previous administration which had been around for 25 years has changed the general profile of our capitol and the cith was losing its character in many ways. Mr Yavaş is now here to give back the city its dignity. I am very happy for his nomination. I support him and wish him luck. Nominated by Elif K., Ankara: I do not even know how to describe this man. He is so successful but still modest. He cares about EVERYONE. Recently he distributed gluten-free bread (which is pretty unpopular in Turkey) to 300 families which have a member with coeliac disease. He doesn’t like to be in media but recently attended a broadcast on Twitch and 360.000 people watched it alive that was the new record on twitch for Turkey. They made up to 60.000 Turkish Liras and this money will be used to plant trees. He does lots of things for Ankara and he is working nonstop, he definitely deserves to win. Nominated by Halil D., Ankara: Thanks to Mr. Yavas, ever since he was elected as the mayor of Ankara, many things have changed in Ankara and still is changing. With his transparency on every subject, it is the first time in history that we are able to witness what’s been happening to our tax money. I can tell with great relief that they are spent wisely and deservingly. I will not brag about what Mr. Yavas has been doing and going to do in the near future because you can find them on internet. What I would like to talk about is how people of Ankara were and are really in need of honesty. That is why we love Mr. Yavas that much. He has shown the world that this business can be done with honor, honesty and total transparency unlike his predecessor. I have been living in Ankara for 24 years and as long as I remember it is the first time that I love my city with its every aspect. For this there is one person I’m grateful for and that is Mansur Yavas. My dear mayor and his crew, thank you for everything you have done for this city. As you have taught us, not all heroes wear capes or disguises. Thanks to you we may yet see brighter days. Thanks to you future does not look gloomy as much as it did before. I believe in you. Ankara believes in you. May you accomplish whatever you set your heart and mind to. I know you will. And I know how you and your team are constantly working to make everything better in this very city we live. I thank you for it from the bottom of my heart. Let us rebuild this city from its very ashes. I can only imagine how hard your job must be. But know that we are with you with every step you take, should you tremble we will be there to hold you, support you. For you showed us something we have long forgotten. You are the hero Ankara needs and it deserves. Nominated by SD, Ankara: I've lived in Ankara my entire life. I was never proud of living here. We had the same mayor for 20 years and nothing felt right. I can't say what happened behind closed doors. Because I don't know. But we desperately needed a change. The city needed a change. A change for the better came with Mr. Mansur Yavas. He saw everything that was wrong and pledged to fix it. And guess what. He has. Every meeting, every decision was transparent (and even live streamed online). He identified problems, and created projects to fix them. He got rid of the fancy cars the municipality owned, he drives to work in an ordinary van just like everyone else. He sources locally for every project in order to support small businesses. He is planting trees all around the city. During the pandemic, he provided free internet to villages so students can attend school, he found money within his budget to donate to families in need, he brought food from local restaurants to donate to people in quarantine. He put plastic dividers in all taxi cabs, free of charge, to protect the drivers from the virus. He is doing everything right to heal a wounded city. The task was so huge that we didn't have hope anyone could turn things around. But his sincerity, honesty, perseverance and dedication has proven us wrong. In my lifetime, I never had a mayor who put the people first. We feel heard, valued, respected, and cared for. It doesn’t matter if you’re rich, poor or anything in between. Mansur Yavas has made it clear that everyone is equal and deserves to live a happy life. Especially during the pandemic, his creativity in finding ways to help people has been astounding. I am finally proud of living in Ankara. Nominated by Ozan K., Ankara: Mayor of Ankara Metropolitan Municipality, Mansur Yavaş, did not miss any opportunity to help the citizens during the pandemic period. When we compare the government's grants to Ankara municipality we see that Ankara municipality has had a better approach to this pandemic period. He did not discriminate people and he respected everyone. He did what the ministry of national education could not do and give children in need the Internet access to make them attend their classes. Mansur Yavaş spent a lot of time with young people, participated in the live broadcast on the twich platform. He helped the animals of Ankara in cold winter days and took care of them. Mansur Yavaş became more than just a mayor. Ankara Büyükşehir Belediye Başkanı Mansur Yavaş, pandemi süresi boyunca vatandaşlara yardımlarını hiç eksik etmedi. Türkiye devletinin yardımlarıyla kıyasladığımız da Ankara Belediyesinin daha fazla gerçekçi yardım yaptığını gördük. İnsanları ayrıştırmadı herkese saygı gösterdi. Milli eğitim bakanlığının yapamadığını yaptı ve köylerdeki çocuklara derslere katılsınlar diye internet götürdü. Mansur Yavaş gençlerle çok zaman geçirdi, twich platformunda canlı yayına katıldı. Ankaranın hayvanlarına soğuk kış günlerinde yardımcı oldu bakımını yaptı. Mansur Yavaş bir belediye başkanından daha fazlası oldu. Nominated by Fatih G., Turkey: merhabalar mansur başkan onca karalama ve iftiralarla başa gelmiş göreve gelirken vaad ettiği sözleri yerine getirmek için canla başla çalışmaya devam etmektedir. kendisi her zaman halkın yanında olup şeffaf belediyeciliği en üst sevide yaşamış ve halkına yaşatmış belediyenin tüm yolsuzluklarını kapatmış ihaleleri en başarılı şekilde gerçekleştirmiştir. belediye meclisinin çoğunluğu farklı partide olsa da kendisi tecrübe ve yetkisini en üst seviyede kullanmış ankara için başarılı bir başkanlık yapmaya devam etmektedir. pandemi sürecinde devletin yapamadıklarını yapmış örnek bir başkan haline gelmiştir. kendisine o kadar engellemelere rağmen bu asil görevinde başarılar diler allahtan kendisine sağlık ve zafer diliyorum. Nominated by Meltem E., Ankara: Mansur Yavaş, Ankara’s mayor, has become o light of hope, as well as being the most trustworthy, self-confident, open-minded, honest and fairest mayor in the Turkish Republic history. Anyone can search and learn about what He did and what he’s planning to do if they google it, but what’s not known is how the people trusted in him, how the secular part of the society holds the hope of secular Turkey in their hearts because of the hope Mansur Yavaş has given them. He is the one to work for the good of the society, not for the good of any political party. Personally, I’d say that Ataturk would be very proud of him not just because of what He did for his people but also because of who he really is. He has a strong potential to be a great natural leader of millions. Thank you for the chance you gave us to show our appreciation of him. Page 1 | Page 2 | Page 3 | Page 4 | Page 5 | Page 6 | Page 7 | Page 8 | Page 9 | Page 10 | |