The Composed University
Murat Yılmaz, Hürriyet's Ankara News Coordinator, met with students at Ankara Bilim University during a lecture titled "Ankara."
During the meeting in the conference hall, Yılmaz shared his assessments of the capital city under the title "Ankara from the Perspective of a City Journalist."
In summary, Yılmaz stated: "Ankara, as the late İlber Ortaylı also said, is not an ordinary city. First of all, it's the city that founded the Republic. It's Mustafa Kemal Atatürk's city. We need to be aware of this. It's a city that carries the traces of past civilizations. Everywhere we go today, there are traces of different civilizations. For example, Ankara Castle. It's one of the rare castles in the world where life continues, a legacy we inherited. We all spend time in cafes, but my advice to you is to go to the Castle instead of a cafe. Truly, the capital city of Ankara, especially the Castle, is a hidden treasure and a story. Be aware of this city." Yılmaz, also addressing the city's problems, stated, “Especially after the earthquake disaster, Ankara was chosen as a safe haven due to its low earthquake risk. Even industrial companies began moving here from Istanbul. This situation, along with the resulting housing shortage, somewhat disrupted the supply and demand balance. On the other hand, traffic and transportation have reached a noticeable level. Today, Ankara has become a leader in terms of the number of vehicles per capita, and we are feeling the effects of this. Unfortunately, we are also inadequate in our rail system network; when we look at world capitals, we can see that we are lagging behind. In the capital, the distribution of people who have access to the rail system is only 35 percent. Ankara is a city that has been left to grapple with problems that have been waiting for years. We need an exhibition center; the foundation was laid, but it was left unfinished. Our stadium waited for years to be built; the last national match was played here in 1992. Hopefully, after its construction is completed, we will have our new stadium. I believe that our capital is in a good position in terms of health and education. We have a lot of potential, and we must take logical steps to make good use of it.” Yılmaz also answered questions from the audience. Following the speeches, Professor Dr. Kadir Arıcı, Dean of the Faculty of Law at Ankara Bilim University, presented Yılmaz with a plaque and a certificate of verbal donation.
