Accompanied by a delegation, Mehmet Duman, Secretary General of UCLG MEWA paid a visit to Sarıyer Municipality, which has recently been a member of UCLG-MEWA, on 5th of January 2017.
Hosting the delegation of UCLG MEWA in his office, Şükrü Genç, Mayor of Sarıyer provided information on the activities, such as the sister city relationships, activities on children, that are carried out by the municipality. Congratulating Sariyer Municipality for becoming a UCLG-MEWA member, Mehmet Duman, Secretary General of UCLG-MEWA touched upon the working principles and the activities of the organization. Mentioning the lobby works and negotiations that are carried out before the international organizations and ministries, Mehmet Duman shared the results of the UCLG-MEWA Executive Bureau and Council Joint Meeting and Migration Management Summit which were held in Gaziantep and Şanlıurfa, Turkey. Highlighting the importance of the summits and the workshops carried out by UCLG-MEWA, Mayor of Sarıyer underlined the necessity of addressing the matters of development by organizations such as UCLG MEWA. Remarking that he considers UCLG-MEWA as their international representative, he stressed the need of mobilizing the international community especially on migration management. During the meeting, it was also underlined that the most objective evaluations on bringing solutions to the problems was done by the local governments, which are the closest levels of government to the citizens.