Nilufer’s First City Restaurant Opened in Görükle, Where Mostly Students Live
The first of the Nilufer City Restaurants opened by Nilufer Municipality to provide citizens with access to healthy and delicious food at affordable prices has opened in Görükle. Nilufer Mayor Şadi Özdemir announced that a 4-course meal at Nilufer City Restaurant will cost 70 Turkish Liras (1,85 EUR).
Nilufer Municipality has added a new one to its exemplary services in the field of social municipality. The first of the Nilufer City Restaurants opened for those in-need to have healthy, delicious and affordable food has opened with a ceremony in Görükle Neighborhood.
Delicious, Healthy and Economical
Expressing that they aim to provide delicious, economical and healthy food for both students and Nilufer residents, Mayor Şadi Özdemir said,
“With a restaurant area of 101 square meters, it has become a place where 52 people can eat at the same time. It will serve 300 people a day. Expert dietitians calculate the calories of the meals. The meals are determined to be an average of 900 calories. The restaurant is also very easy to reach. It will serve between 13:00 and 18:00 6 days a week except Sunday.”
Mayor Şadi Özdemir thanked Contemporary Education Cooperative (ÇEK) for its cooperation regarding the location.
Mayor Şadi Özdemir reminded that young people, women, disadvantaged groups and agricultural areas are always their priorities, and said that for this reason, they first preferred Görükle Neighborhood, where university students are dense, for the city restaurant. Stating that they opened Nilbel Cafe a few weeks ago, Mayor Şadi Özdemir said,
“We will prefer places where students are concentrated or where low-income people live for locating the restaurants we will open.”
“Suspended Meal” Tradition Has Started
Mayor Şadi Özdemir stated that they have started a suspended (donated) meal application for those in need at Nilufer City Restaurant and announced that he will also provide support for 10 people. Mayor Şadi Özdemir invited everyone to contribute to this application. Then the participants raised the donations its upto 150 suspended meals.
CHP (The Republican People’s Party) Bursa Deputy Nurhayat Altaca Kayışoğlu said,
“We wish our country’s welfare level was among the best in the world. We wish income distribution was fair, tax distribution was fair, no one was dependent on anyone else, the Republic was the supporter of all the helpless. We wish our municipalities would not have to try to eliminate the ruins created by the central government with such projects and services. We wish everyone could eat and drink whatever they want everywhere, go on vacation and travel as they wish, like Europeans. Unfortunately, as a result of 22 years of government by the central government, they have created a country where people cannot pay their rents, cannot buy milk for their children, cannot put food in their lunch boxes and cannot even meet their most basic needs. Fortunately, our municipalities serve with a service-oriented social democratic approach, by supporting disadvantaged groups and trying to ensure that people live their lives humanely without making them dependent on anyone.” she said.
CHP Bursa Deputy Orhan Sarıbal also congratulated CHP municipalities that prioritize food as a right and said,
“Living is the most sacred right, the right to life of people must be protected by the state in a way of justice. However, the right to live alone is not enough to sustain a life; food is a basic right, a clean environment is a basic right, shelter is a basic right, education is a basic right, health is a basic right. 8.000.000 children in Turkey are under food insecurity, 6.000.000 children are hungry and poor and my dear friends, unfortunately, while some people in this country continue their lives with Medina dates, buffalo yoghurts, chestnut honeys, a group of our people are tested with hunger. No one has the right to go hungry in this land with so much wealth, these lands feed everyone; as long as we feed the administrators, the lords, and those who cannot be satiated with wealth, otherwise the problem will be solved. The children of this country are fed with carbohydrates, that is, bread, in other words, they are not fed. They fill their stomach with bread. We are the society that consumes the most bread in the world, we are in first place. Again, unfortunately, the people of this country have to fill their stomach with sugar and we carry plenty of sugar-related diseases. In other words, dear friends, as part of the exploitation system of capitalism, the money we spend on health on top of malnutrition does not save our lives. At the end of the day, I care about this service. Young people have no right to have such poverty, and I condemn those who allow this right from here. Long live solidarity, long live joint struggle.”
Nilbel Board Chairman İbrahim Mart stated that spreading the city restaurants is very important for the benefit of those in need. Mart stated that they want every job done in Nilufer for the benefit of the people of Nilufer and said,
“This is what our struggle is for. Solidarity is very important for this.”
Görükle Neighborhood Mukhtar (head of the neighbourhood) Hasan Sert also emphasized that around 13.000 of our students had to take a break from their education last year due to the high cost of living and this service of the Nilufer Municipality is very important in such a period.
Author: Mehmet Can Yilmaz, Nilufer Municipality
Photo Credits: Nilufer Municipality Press Office