About Tarsus:
Tarsus is a city highly suitable for cycling and bicycle transportation due to its climate and geographical features. It is a city being continuously inhabited for more than ten thousand years. There is heavy vehicle traffic and congestion on the roads, exacerbated by rapid population growth. However, almost the entire city is within a ten to fifteen-minute bicycle ride. Currently, we do not have dedicated safe bike lanes, and therefore many people who want to cycle are unable to do so.
As the Tarsus Bicycle Community, which we have established about five years ago, our goal is to promote bicycle transportation and enable people to travel safely to work, school, or shopping by bicycle. To achieve this, we organize awareness events, weekly group rides, festivals, teaching women to ride bicycles, and group tours on special days. We also provide voluntary support to local government planning for bicycle paths and infrastructure.
About me:
I am a doctor and I love my profession; doing my best to improve public health and promote a healthy lifestyle with the same enthusiasm as on the first day. I have worked for many years in the field, in hospitals, and in tertiary healthcare facilities. Currently, I am the school doctor of an international school. In addition to my busy professional life as a doctor, I have been a founder, member, and leader of many foundations and associations throughout my life. I served as the chair of the Tarsus Civic City Council for many years. I am the founder of a project that provides scholarships to successful students in need of financial support. I currently serve as the spokesperson for the Civic Council of the Mersin Metropolitan Municipality in Tarsus. I am also the president of the “Tarsus Mother-Child Health Association,” which aims to improve maternal and child health. Bicycling has always been an indispensable part of my life since childhood, and I still try to set an example by biking to work whenever possible.
My plans for the term:
As the “Bicycle Mayor of Tarsus,” my main goal for the upcoming period will be to work on promoting bicycle use in Tarsus. We know that many cyclists want to use bicycles in their daily lives but hesitate due to unsafe infrastructure and traffic flow. We understand that if cyclists become more visible and numerous in traffic, we will be taken more seriously by other vehicles and decision-makers. To this end, as a bicycle community, we will increase awareness activities.
We will continue our group bike tours every Thursday evening. We will encourage people to bike to work on specific days. In November, we will hold a large Bicycle Festival in collaboration with the Metropolitan Municipality. We will call on public and private enterprises to encourage their employees to bike to work. I aim to organize a meeting where the Tarsus District Governorship, Mersin and Tarsus Municipalities, the City Council, and civil society come together to discuss issues of transportation, mobility, and bicycle use in our city. We will continue to meet with authorities and support planning efforts for safe bike lanes and bike parking facilities in our city.
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