Turkey’s Brand City Konya

Ugur Ibrahim Altay, Mayor of Konya Metropolitan Municipality, stated that “Konya has hosted a heritage of 10 thousand years. The city has a rich culinary culture, dozens of natural and historical riches and all kinds of social and cultural opportunities. Konya is a youth and student city with 5 universities. We invite all young people to study in Konya, the city of Mevlana Celalettin Rumi.”

Heart of Anatolia: Konya

Altay, who is also the President of the World Union of Municipalities and the President of the Union of Turkish World Municipalities, talked about the transportation of Konya. He said that “Konya can be called as the heart of Anatolia. The fact that it is located at a point connecting east and west, south and north and has uninterrupted air and railway transportation allows our city to easily market its products. Konya’s foreign trade volume has risen to 3 billion dollars today. With thousands of manufacturers and exporters in our city, we export to more than 180 countries in Asia, Europe, Africa, and America. We have commercial relations with these countries.”

 City of Youth and Student

 Mayor Altay said that “Konya is a city of youth and students, students studying here continue their education in the best way. It is a big youth and student city with five universities, 130 thousand university students, nearly 500 thousand primary and secondary education students. Our students continue their education here in the best way and make the most of the opportunities our city offers. Our city has all kinds of social and cultural opportunities for the students. It also has the best facilities in terms of accommodation and transportation. Konya, one of the first cities to use the High-Speed Train in our country, is currently one of the cities where public transportation is the cheapest for students. As the Metropolitan Municipality, we continue to support our students, especially in cultural activities. I invite all our students who want to study at university to our city, where people brought up in Mevlana Celaleddin Rumi’s climate of love, peace and tolerance, and to experience the beauties of this city together.”

 Unique Cuisine Culture

Mayor Altay uttered that “Konya has a very rich food culture and the tradition of cooking that started in Çatalhöyük ten thousand years ago has continued uninterruptedly for thousands of years. Each civilization living on our lands has carried our food culture even higher. The story of Konya cuisine started in Çatalhöyük, was cooked in the Seljuk palace and matured in the Mevlevi cuisine; almost lived its golden age especially during the Seljuk and Ottoman periods. Konya is also the city of Ateşbaz-ı Veli, the head chef of Mevlana, who was the first cook whose tomb was built. Rumi prays for Ateşbaz- I Veli as “May those who receive your salt be healed, may those who visit you find peace. May their food increase but not waste”. He engraved his heart on fire and cooked his meals with wisdom and took a very special place in our spiritual climate with his secrets that affected us all deeply.”

 Look Forward to Seeing You in Konya

Altay said that “Konya is worth seeing every season with the best examples of history, culture and nature tourism. We invite the guests from every country to live in our city, the capital of the Seljuks, the city of Mevlana Celaleddin Rumi. In Konya, there is a lot of natural and historical richness to see such as the Science Center, Tropical Butterfly Garden, Panorama Museum, Ancestral Garden, Sille, Kilistra, Alaaddin Hill, Ince Minaret, Meram Vineyards, Yerköprü Waterfall, Nasreddin Hoca and Shams-i Tabrizi. The districts of Konya also has valuable works of art. There are many beauties in districts such as Beyşehir, Akşehir, Seydişehir, Hadim, Ereğli, Karapınar, Ilgın, Cihanbeyli.

Konya, a ten-thousand-year-old City

Altay stated that “Konya’s adventure that started with Çatalhöyük; continued with Hittites, Phrygians, Alexander the Great Empire, Roman and Byzantine Empires, Great Seljuk State, Anatolian Seljuk State and Ottoman Empire. Our city continues its rise to the present day with the heritage of each civilization it has cradled. Fasıllar, Eflatunpınar, Yalburt and İvriz monuments with their history dating back to the Hittites and the ancient cities of Kilistra, Sille, Mysthia, Vasada, Savatra and Isaura, which are among the important ancient settlements of Anatolia, are located within the borders of Konya. In addition to all these, the main thing that gives our city its reputation is that it was the capital of the Anatolian Seljuk State, one of the greatest civilizations in Turkish-Islamic history, for 200 years. Today, there are dozens of masterpieces from both Seljuk and Ottoman periods in the center and many districts of Konya.”

Cycling City and the World Sports Capital

Mayor Altay pointed out that “Due to its geographical structure and the importance given to “healthy transportation”, Konya is the city where most bicycles are used in Turkey. As Konya Metropolitan Municipality, we have carried out many different studies to increase the use of bicycles in urban transportation. Konya is currently one of the cities with the longest bicycle path network in the world with 595 kilometres. We will increase this length to 800 kilometres by 2030. Again, with a project that sets an example for Turkey, we put the Bicycle Tram into service to facilitate long distance bicycle transportation. We implemented the Cycling Master Plan for the first time in Turkey to further encourage cycling in our city. In many points of our city, bicycle repair stations, bicycle parks, shared bicycle points and bicycle bridges continue to serve bicycle users. Turkey’s first Olympic Velodrome is also located in Konya. In addition, as a result of the fact that we have the most modern sports facilities in Turkey with international standards and the importance we give to sports, Konya was selected as the ‘2023 World Capital of Sports’ by the European Federation of Sports Capitals and Cities. We became the first city in Turkey and the second city in Europe, after Madrid, to receive the title of ‘World Sports Capital’.”

Agriculture, Industry and Trade Center

Mayor Altay stated that “Konya also has the titles of “Turkey’s granary” and “industrial city”. Today, Konya has a developed industry and technology infrastructure with modern organized industrial zones, R&D and design centres, technology development zones and Technology Industrial Zone. In addition, the city stands out as one of the important investment centres preferred by both domestic and international companies. Our city, which shares the employment and industry burden of the Turkish economy; also includes a dynamic industrial system that is rapidly developing in dozens of different fields such as the automotive and machinery industry, the basic metal industry, the defence industry, the agriculture and food industry, the wood products industry, the rubber, plastic, and furniture industry.