Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Muhittin Böcek held a press conference together with Fair Coordinator Nurdan Aydın Polatçı on the occasion of the 13th Antalya Book Fair, which will be organized by Antalya Metropolitan Municipality between 24 November and 3 December this year. Explaining that the guest of honor of the Book Fair is Ahmet Ümit, Böcek stated that 263 authors and 204 national and international publishing houses will meet with the people of Antalya at the 13th Antalya Book Fair with the slogan “We are writing the second century of our Republic together”. Böcek said that during his term as Konyaaltı Mayor in 2010, they saw how high the readers’ interest in books was with the abundance of pirated book sales in Antalya, and said, “We started the 1st Antalya Konyaaltı Book Fair with the theme ‘Need to Read’ in our Konyaaltı City Square in order to bring together book lovers from Antalya with authors.” . After 1 tent, 2 tents, 5 tents, we moved our fair, which could not fit in tents, to the Glass Pyramid. We did not remain idle during this process. In 2017, we brought Nazım Hikmet Fair and Congress Center to Antalya. “We opened both our fair center and the book fair together on November 24, the most important day of our beloved teachers,” he explained the process.
‘We attribute it to teachers’
Böcek said the following about the fair: “This year, with our book fair that we will open on November 24, Teachers’ Day, we wanted to honor our teachers who work hard to raise future generations in line with the revolution and principles of our Head Teacher Atatürk. We attribute this book fair to them. We will write the second century of our Republic together with our dear teachers and students. This year, we will host 263 authors and 204 national and international publishing houses at our 13th Antalya Book Fair. Our esteemed author Ahmet Ümit will be the guest of honor. We welcome all book lovers to our Glass Pyramid Fair and Congress Center, which will be open between 24 November and 3 December, between 10.00 in the morning and 20.00 in the evening.”
‘Our silence is from our nobility’
Böcek met with journalists at the press conference and answered questions. Answering questions about his candidacy and the canceled Golden Orange, Böcek stated that he would share his clear decision in the coming days. Regarding the allegations that there is a problem in his candidacy, Böcek said, “Our silence is due to our nobility. I have spent 29 years with such events, from time to time, when the election process approaches, there may be friends who come to their service, who do not, or who feel like running for candidacy. I do not see these very often. I will make my statement clearly in the coming days. My fellow citizens from Antalya, every 5 years I always make my calculations for 5 years. With the success story of 25 years in Antalya, from Gazipaşa to Kaş, we said that we would manage our Antalya by saying ‘a planned, regulated city with an identity, there is no me or you, there is us’ and we did that. . We have never made any debts. The investments we have made, everything is obvious. I hope that the friends who are and will be candidates do their jobs honestly. I have always been halal in Antalya during the 5-year period. I have come to this day by answering first to God and then to my people. Those who love me I have never embarrassed the people who voted for me. The election frenzy may come and go, there may be political parties and changes, but we are never in our place. “I will share whatever is necessary with our dear Antalya residents in the coming days,” he said.
‘I will make Golden Orange’
Answering the question about whether the canceled 60th Golden Orange Film Festival will be held or not, Böcek said: “I will still hold the 60th Golden Orange Festival despite everything. Don’t worry about the dates of all of them, I will tell you. I will never go to the Golden Orange Film Festival.” “As someone who did not make any effort, who painted our figurines black, and who brought us to this day from a place where there were no short films, feature-length documentaries or cinema schools, we will do the 60th Golden Orange in Antalya, as Muhittin Böcek and his team, despite all the obstacles, if we are granted the chance.” Böcek took a souvenir photo with journalists at the end of the press conference. Atatürk’s Speech book was given as a gift to the journalists.
ESRA ALTUNKES
