Izmir
Izmir, a city dating back 8500 years, has become a city where different people and ideas live together by means of its location on the sea and trade routes. The cultural richness that comes with such diversity is still in our city as it was yesterday. Our city owes its greatest wealth to the integration of the different cultures that it hosts.
As Izmir Metropolitan Municipality, we aim to build a more just, inclusive, and equitable city with the reference that we have received from the ancient history of Izmir. In line with this objective, we adopt an understanding of governance that aims to reinforce the sense of democracy and common life in the city. For this reason, we carry out activities that support equal opportunity in order to ensure that all people living in our city live in harmony, have access to all services, and strengthen their sense of belonging to the city.
We established the Urban Justice and Equality Branch Directorate in order to fight against all kinds of discrimination in İzmir and to support the spread of human rights, social justice, and the culture of living together to all segments of the society to establish social peace.
However, despite the efforts to protect and develop the culture of living together in our city and all over the world, ongoing discrimination, hate speech, difficulties in social adaptation, and increasing poverty are among the obstacles to living together.
In this context, Living Together Summit 2021 offers an opportunity to produce constructive solutions to similar problems. We can all discover new ideas and solutions for a better future at the Summit, where topics such as dialogue in cities, inclusion, health, security, and urban economy will be discussed. I would like to state that we will be honored by your participation in the Living Together Summit 2021 and hope that the meeting will be productive and unite our cities.
Mr. Tunç Soyer, Mayor of Izmir Metropolitan Municipality
Mayor
Keys facts
Izmir witnessed many civilizations from Hittites to Ionians, Lydians to Persians, Hellenes to Romans and Byzantines to Ottomans. Most of the antiquities from these periods are exhibited in the Izmir Archaeological Museum and the Museum of History and Art.
Located on the west coast of Turkey by the Aegean Sea and is one of the major port cities in the Mediterranean. Izmir province stretches over an area of 12.000 km2 and comprises 30 districts, 11 of which are situated in the metropolitan area.
Today, the city celebrates its unique culture, which stems from its heritages, cuisine and cosmopolitan lifestyle where the sea and the agriculture play an influential role. The residents of Izmir enjoy many festivals dedicated to arts, culture, ecology and gastronomy, numerous museums, art centers, and independent cultural activities.
The city is also known for its international fair and Kültürpark, which is a landmark dating back to the early years of the Republic of Turkey. Kültürpark is a vast green public space in the city center which has played an important role in connecting Turkey to the world, in the economic and cultural domains, since the 1930s.