CHP Chairman Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu and İBB President Ekrem İmamoğlustarted the 'Bread Wheat Seed and Diesel Support', which the institution will provide to the farmers of Istanbul, within the scope of the '150 Projects in 150 Days' marathon. Recalling the words of the ruling wing, "If you vote for CHP municipalities, the aid will be cut off, you will not get any help again," Kılıçdaroğlu said, "You did not believe them and you supported those mayors. They came by choice. They took their seats. Let alone cutting the aid, our mayors started to do much more than they did for a while, without disturbing anyone," he said. Saying, “Today, we will be starting the distribution of 1545 tons of high-yielding domestic donated bread wheat seeds together with you,” said İmamoğlu, adding, “The seeds to be distributed will be planted on exactly 62 thousand decares. The cost of this to our Metropolitan Municipality is approximately 25 million liras. With a support of 4 million liras, we will bring 160 thousand 700 liters of diesel support together with our citizens. We stand by our producer”.
CHP Chairman Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, Parliamentary CHP Group Deputy Chairman Engin Altay, CHP Deputy Chairman Seyit Torun, CHP Istanbul Provincial President Canan Kaftancıoğlu and Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (IMM) Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlucarried their Istanbul tour, which they started in Arnavutköy in the morning, to Silivri. Kılıçdaroğlu and the accompanying delegation, who first made investigations at the Silivri Seymen Landfill Gas Power Generation Facility, met with the villagers in Seymen Village Square, which was later completely renovated by IMM. Made with tea sohbetKılıçdaroğlu and İmamoğlu, who went to a sunflower field near Değirmenköy, witnessed the harvesting of the product, the seed of which was given free of charge to the producer by the İBB, with a combine.
THEY STARTED WHEAT SEED AND FUEL SUPPORT TO FARMERS IN ISTANBUL
Kılıçdaroğlu, İmamoğlu and their delegation's last stop in Silivri was Değirmenköy Square. Kılıçdaroğlu and İmamoğlu, after their speeches here, participated in the event "We are with the producer with the support of Bread Wheat Seed and Diesel Oil". Speaking at the event, Kılıçdaroğlu thanked İBB and İmamoğlu for their support to agriculture. “You listened to Ekrem President. Kılıçdaroğlu, who said that he really does his best for the comfort of Istanbulites, whether in the countryside or in the city center, for everyone to live in Istanbul in peace, said, “Therefore, it is my duty to thank Ekrem President in the presence of all of you. Let's not be fair; They work in the same way as our other mayors. As a matter of fact, Ekrem President also emphasized this. They block; I know. The obstacles remain; I know these too. But I told my friends this: No matter what obstacle they throw, you will not complain. You will overcome the obstacle and embrace the citizen. You will fulfill their demands," he said.
“WOMEN AND YOUTH WORKING IN RURAL WILL BE INSURED”
Kılıçdaroğlu, emphasizing that they will do for Turkey what has been done for Istanbul, said:
“Women and young people working in rural areas in Turkey will be insured as long as they work in rural areas. The state will pay the insurance premiums. This is one of our goals. Therefore, women working in rural areas and young people working in rural areas are not happy. Social security is not provided. Since the young people cannot get paid for their hard work, they sit, try and work in the suburbs of big cities, wondering if I can find a job with minimum wage. It leaves its land. If you offend the farmer, the producer, the fisherman, the breeder to the land, if you offend the sea, that nation will starve. If you do not produce, we, as 85 million people, will go and buy wheat, barley, oats, corn, meat, livestock, chickpeas and lentils from abroad. Why do we outsource? We have fertile land. We have hardworking people. They produce, but when their labor is not rewarded, they slaughter it in the land. They say 'I will not plant'.
“WHEN EKREM PRESIDENT HAS BEEN DISTRIBUTING MILK FOR MONTHS…”
Before the elections, the ruling wing said, “Look, huh! If you vote for CHP municipalities, the aid will be cut. Reminding their words, 'You can't get help again', Kılıçdaroğlu said, “You didn't believe them and you supported those mayors. They came by choice. They took their seats. Let alone cutting off the aid, our mayors started to do much more than they did for a while without disturbing anyone. Ekrem our President said. What did he say? We give milk to 172 thousand of our children. He promised, "I will". After a while, he was elected President. Someone said, 'You promised the children milk. Why don't you distribute milk? However, Ekrem President had been distributing milk for months. But he did not make it a political material. He did not expose anyone's poverty. He tried to hide who was poor and who was not, by preserving human dignity. He took and delivered milk to every home that needed milk. The left hand did not see what the right hand gave, which is also a requirement of our faith and morality. We do not do as they do. We do all of these by protecting human dignity and protecting human dignity.”
“POLITICS IS NOT A TOOL OF ENHANCEMENT”
Kılıçdaroğlu, who listed the support they would give to agriculture and production during their rule, said:
“We want to live in a Turkey where everybody produces, everybody wins, there is peace in every house, there is abundance in every house and there is no quarrel in this country. We want to make a morality-based politics, not politics over identities, not politics over beliefs, not politics over lifestyles. Politics is the field of serving the citizen. We want to serve you. Politics is not a means of enrichment. Politics is not a tool to turn the corner. People who enter politics cannot take people's money, your money and give it to a handful of people. So they can't give your billion dollars to the gangs of five. I'll take that money too. Don't worry. When I say I will take it, not by force. I will take it with justice. If there is injustice, if you are robbing the nation, 'Sir, Mr. Kemal should watch this. Will we watch? They don't. I don't watch. I will take all the money. This is the nation's right. I will give it to this nation.”
İMAMOĞLU: “AVERAGE FARMERS AGE IS 58”
Reminding that Turkey was one of the few countries that was self-sufficient in terms of agricultural production in the past, İmamoğlu said, “But Turkey has unfortunately become dependent on foreign countries due to the wrong policies applied persistently in recent years. Input prices, which have increased rapidly in the last few years, have unfortunately been the spice of this business in the last few years and affect us very, very negatively.” Expressing that he is not satisfied with the life of Turkish farmers, İmamoğlu said, “While our population is increasing rapidly, the number of farmers and the amount of cultivated agricultural land are decreasing. The average farmer age was fifty-eight. In other words, the average age of our citizens engaged in farming has climbed upwards. Villages have been emptied, cities have become uninhabitable. On the other hand, food prices in cities have risen like missiles, and our citizens are having very, very difficult access to even the most basic foodstuffs.
“THIS IS POSSIBLE TO CORRECT IT WITH THE CORRECT POLICIES”
Saying, “Just as the country was brought to this state by wrong policies, it is possible to correct this trend with the right policies,” said İmamoğlu, adding, “As IMM, we have attached great importance to agriculture and rural work since the day we took office. We wanted our farmers not to be crushed under this order. Let our fields remain green and do not become concrete. Our citizens of Istanbul should not feel alone in the countryside in this sense. In this context, we have gathered with you today to start two important agricultural support practices of our Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality. Before we came here, we stopped by the sunflower field with our President and harvested for you with a combine. I would like to proudly say that, as Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality, we are proud to give the seeds of one of every two sunflowers that raise their heads within the borders of Istanbul. The 2 thousand 540 bags of sunflower seeds we distributed were planted on 69 thousand decares of land. The financing cost of this support to our municipality was 6 million TL.
“THE COST OF WHEAT SEEDS TO BE DISTRIBUTED TO IMM is 25 MILLION TL”
Reminding that Turkey has started to import wheat in recent years, İmamoğlu said, “We produce 17-18 million tons per year. On the other hand, we import 10 million tons of wheat. So what is at the root of the problem? Input prices are too high. On the other hand, the product produced cannot find its value. In addition, our country is experiencing a food inflation rate that is much higher than that of the world. The consumer has difficulty even keeping up with the price of bread. Under these conditions, our Metropolitan Municipality has implemented a wheat and bread policy, starting from the production in the field, starting from the seed to the bread in the bakery, considering all its dimensions. First of all, our friends made trial plantings for varieties with high yield and adaptation to the region. 6-7 varieties were planted. And it was checked which one was the most efficient and of high quality. Today, we will be starting the distribution of 1545 tons of high-yield domestic donated bread wheat seeds together with you. The seeds to be distributed will be planted on exactly 62 thousand decares. The cost of this to our Metropolitan Municipality is approximately 25 million liras. As the Metropolitan Municipality, we will continue to purchase the wheat of our small and medium-sized farmers next year.”
“WE PAID 52 MILLION LIRA TO THE MANUFACTURER WITH PURCHASES”
Noting that as Halk Ekmek, they purchased 7 tons of wheat directly from the producer, with the practice that is the first in the history of municipal management, İmamoğlu said, “With the price we gave above the market price, we both met the cash needs of our producers and brought order to the market. Thus, no one could attempt to exploit the farmer's sweat. In response to these purchases, as our municipality, we paid approximately 219 million liras to the producer. It's the skin of your brow. I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to our farmers who produce and go on this journey with us and trust us.” Giving the good news that they will start the construction of a warehouse of 52 thousand tons within the scope of supporting agriculture, İmamoğlu shared the information that “The construction of the warehouse will cost our municipality approximately 100 million liras”. Stating that they will continue to sell normal folk bread for 215 TL until the end of the year, İmamoğlu said, "We will continue to stand by our citizens in an environment where prices are rising."
“With 4 MILLION TL SUPPORT, WE WILL MEET 160 THOUSAND 700 LITER OF FUEL WITH OUR CITIZENS”
Noting that they will start to implement a different application as of today, İmamoğlu said:
“Today, perhaps for the first time, we went to the farmer with the tankers of an institution… That is, the tractor will take off from here, travel for miles to get help, and return again… There is the fuel it spends, etc.… We came here with our tankers, even thinking about that. We will experience the honor and pride of pouring the diesel from here, from the tankers to the tank of our farmer's tractor for the first time, together with our President. With a support of 4 million liras, we will bring 160 thousand 700 liters of diesel support together with our citizens. We stand by our manufacturer. We are absolutely determined to give every kind of morale that the farmer produces. Concrete economy has grown a lot in our country. But we all felt what kind of threat we were under when there was no production economy in front of it. Therefore, we will continue to defend the production economy at full speed.”
“COST OF AGRICULTURAL SUPPORT TO IMM is 2,3 BILLION LIRA”
“The cost of these agricultural supports, which we have counted at once, to our Metropolitan Municipality is approximately 2,3 billion liras. 2 thousand 500 tons of feed support we distributed; We buy 18 million liters of milk from the producer and distribute it to our citizens; As we distribute our summer and winter vegetable seedlings, the total number of which reaches 25 million, every year, we now start production in our own greenhouses; The machine and equipment support we provide to the Chambers of Agriculture and cooperatives is not included in this figure, my dear President. Well, while we support agriculture so much in very limited agricultural areas, such as Istanbul, in the few rural areas you see, I said to my friends the figure that the central administration, namely the government, supported agriculture in all of Turkey in 2022: 'Share with me': 29 billion liras. In other words, even the support we give to our citizens only in Istanbul captures 10 percent or even more of this. We did this in Istanbul. We must then certainly ask: How does the government manage to support this country's agriculture so little and insufficiently? How can the Metropolitan Municipality support the agriculture of Istanbul with such a high budget? Our answer is clear to this: If you create a country based on concrete economy rather than production, which pours resources into supporters or puts our country in meaningless jobs and makes senseless debt, unfortunately, this will put the producer in a difficult situation and you cannot support the farmer in this sense.”
“WE SEE OUR PEOPLE ARE SATISFIED”
Expressing that the previous IMM administration did not have a single agenda item related to support to agriculture, İmamoğlu said, “We started this. We see that our people are satisfied with what has been done. We listen to our citizens and fellow countrymen on the street. I definitely experience their interest and support at the highest level. Our farmer is happy, our rural people are happy from this painting. But 16 million Istanbul residents are happy because they are aware of the return on their own if we spend this resource in this way. So I see that we are on the right track. Of course, there will be those who are offended by this. There will be those who will try to stop us. But we will continue on the right path, on the path we know. We are aware that at the end of this road, there is the welfare of not only 16 million Istanbulites, but all of Turkey. When we see that there is such agricultural support in Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir and all our municipalities, our chest swells. And we do great things together. We proved this last year at the agriculture fair in Istanbul, which we held for the first time. When we do the second one in İzmir this year, I think we will be showing the agricultural practices that will set an example to Turkey in the best way under the leadership of our esteemed President, to the whole of Turkey.”
FROM İMAMOĞLU TO KILIÇDAROĞLU: YOU WILL GIVE Courage, GET HOPE IN THE HEARTS OF 84 MILLIONS
Saying, "But we need to show another thing, Mr. Chairman," İmamoğlu addressed Kılıçdaroğlu with the following words:
“With the Nation Alliance, the six table and your leadership there, you will of course sow justice, reap prosperity and happiness, peace and security in every square meter of Turkey after the next election. But you will also plant courage and reap hope in the hearts of 84 million. We know this. We will live this together. We personally thank you and all the leaders of the parties in the six-party table, who have revealed this unity of democracy, which is the source of this, and we bow respectfully before all of you. Have a nice journey to all of us. With this belief, we have full faith that you will enable our nation to experience the growth in agriculture, which Turkey needs, in the period of power that will be put forward by the Nation Alliance. I sincerely thank my esteemed President, our esteemed executives, all our guests and fellow citizens for making us live this excitement and belief and for coming here to start our diesel and wheat support with us today.”
IMM'S AGRICULTURAL SUPPORT IN NUMBERS
IMM continues to support our farmers, who earn their living by agricultural production and make significant contributions to the country's economy, to continue producing. The support, which was started with the support of summer vegetable seedlings for the first time in Istanbul in 2020, continued to increase and diversify in the following years. For the first time this year, IMM added bread wheat seed and diesel support. These seeds are Halis and Nusrat varieties that have been tested under farmer conditions in different neighborhoods of Silivri and Çatalca districts. Both varieties are native seeds with a yield well above the average of both Istanbul and Turkey. A total of 10 tons of bread wheat seed support will be given to 121 farmers in 2217 districts and 1.541,75 neighborhoods. These seeds will be planted on an area of 61.670 decares. In addition, 10 liters of diesel support will be provided to 128 farmers in 1.654 districts and 160.500 neighborhoods. 7 bags of oil sunflower seeds worth 86 TL were provided to 1.591 farmers in 5.334.000 districts and 2540 neighborhoods. These seeds were planted in a total area of 68.500 decares. The total cost of the supports made by İBB to the farmers in 2022, together with the wheat and diesel support, has been 58.819.493 TL so far.
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