Karatay and Novi Grad Municipalities Signed the Sister City Protocol

The sister city protocol was signed between the members of Union of Turkish World Municipalities Karatay (Konya) Municipality and Novi Grad (Bosnia) Municipality with a ceremony in Sarajevo on 25 June 2021. The signing ceremony was held within the framework of the TDBB executive members’ Bosnia and Herzegovina visiting program and attended by Mayor of Karatay Hasan Kılca and Mayor of Novi Grad Semir Efendiç, and also Mayor of Balıkesir Metropolitan Municipality Yücel Yılmaz, Mayor of Bağcılar Lokman Çağırıcı, Mayor of Beykoz Murat Aydın, Mayor of Başiskele Yasin Özlü and TDBB Secretary General Fahri Solak. Semir Efendiç, at the signing ceremony stated that, “Today we signed a sister city protocol with one of the important districts of Konya. We know that Konya has a commitment to Sarajevo and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Alija Izetbegovic Mosque and Haris Silayciç Park are the examples of this commitment”. People of Konya made a great support to Bosnia and Herzegovina during the war between 1992 and 1995, Efendic expressed that he is looking forward to do the future joint projects with Karatay after this protocol. Mayor of Karatay Hasan Kılca emphasized that they signed a very important protocol and he pointed out that there are very strong ties between Konya and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Kılca said that, “We brought greetings from our citizens in Konya. We signed this sister city protocol with the municipality of Novi Grad. We are trying to spread the teachings of Mevlana to every piece of our geography. We would love to work together with our sister city Novi Grad and by this relationship we may develop our relations in social, cultural aspects. We have boosted this friendship between Bosnia and Turkey today by doing this sister city relation. I hope we will have chances to make new projects together in the next period”.