NURAN TALU, Ph.D.

Firstly, we should properly anticipate future, especially in the period we are going through. If the main purpose of town twinning is to provide collaboration and partnership among the various sectors and fields between the local authorities in Turkey and the EU countries, it is essential to focus on the constructive steps which should be taken from now on in order to ensure the sustainability of this process. Providing that we aspire to engage our local authorities into both active and subsidiary roles in the advancement of the relations between Turkey and the EU, we should not be limited with the reinforcement of the administrative capacities in the chapters of the EU Acquis’.

 The experiences and knowledge that our municipalities were equipped with through the “Twinnings” within the concept of Sustainable Urbanism should provide prospective, long term and contemporary, in terms of the necessities and opportunities of our time. For example, the climate crisis is the open wound of our time. On the face of such imminent threat one should not wait, it seems, to become a global city to stand against and fight global crises. The main paint of the matter is to be prepared for the transformation and change expected from cities. Thus, we should, make our demands resonate louder, find ways to transform our cities, and find out good practices in order to be able to face such an extensive crisis.  The EU continues rapidly to reinforce its position as a leader in global climate policies. We should continue town twinning action and our fight together in order to contribute to this leadership process together with the local authorities of member countries of the EU and more importantly to build a green, just and ecologic civilization in our cities”.