8 February 2023
The Disability Coordination Centre built by Aksaray Municipality inside the Somuncu Baba Complex and Cultural Centre — which is at the same time the Beyazay Aksaray Branch — was opened with a ceremony.
Attending the opening ceremony of the Disability Coordination Centre and Beyazay Aksaray Branch building, the President of the Turkish Beyazay Association, Lokman Ayva, said that the picture Türkiye longs for is being able to be together with our differences: “The picture Türkiye longs for is this: being able to be together with our differences. Not making our differences a cause of quarrel; being able to be together and to move forward together despite our differences of thought, our origins and our political views. This is the picture Türkiye longs for. People in Türkiye cannot compete with the world by tripping one another up. But in Türkiye we love one another, and so that there is no division or fragmentation we must not refrain from stating what is true and what we believe. Unity is no obstacle to thinking differently and to consultation. Our Aksaray Municipality has created a city atmosphere that fits this picture our country longs for extremely well,” he said.
The Mayor of Aksaray, Haluk Şahin Yazgı, said: “When we took office we always emphasised this. I said we would not govern this city on our own. We will govern this city together with our civil society organisations, with chambers, with associations and with our people. Whatever they ask of us, whatever they want, whatever they wish for, we will strive with all our strength to bring it about as far as our means and our hands allow. But one of the most important matters for us is the work we do for people with disabilities; thanks to you we have seen what a great contribution this work will make to us both in this world and the next, and what an important thing we have done. Thanks to you we realise it once again. When we first took office we said, let there be fine, suitable minibuses for our citizens with disabilities so that they can travel comfortably. Bless them, they did not turn us down. Work began to adapt 160 vehicles across Türkiye for people with disabilities all at once. And now we have opened our coordination centre.”
After the speeches, young children with disabilities gave a whirling dervish performance. While the young children enchanted everyone with their performance, the ribbon of the coordination centre was then cut.