Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe (Congress) 45th Session was held in Strasbourg, France between 23-26 October 2023.
President of the Union of Municipalities of Türkiye (UMT) and Mayor of Balıkesir Metropolitan Municipality Yücel Yılmaz, Members of the Turkish National Delegation, Director General for Local Authorities of the Ministry of Environment Urbanisation and Climate Change Turan Konak, Secretary General of UMT Dr. Hayri Baraçlı, Deputy Secretaries General of UMT Dr. Ahmet Kazan, Halil İbrahim Azak, Kayhan Özüm and Dr. Ramazan Özcan Yıldırım participated to the meetings.
On the first day of the meetings, the national secretariat coordinated by the UMT held a preliminary coordination meeting with the national delegation and provided information on the agenda. Afterwards, the delegation members attended political group meetings and were informed about the nominations for the elections. The first day of the programme concluded with a reception organised under the auspices of Ambassador Nurdan Bayraktar Golder, Permanent Representative of Türkiye to the Council of Europe.
On the second day of the programme, which started with committee meetings, an exchange with the Portuguese National Delegation was held. After the meeting, a protocol was signed to establish cooperation between the delegations. In the afternoon session of the programme, Marc Cools from Belgium was elected as the new President of the Congress.
Mayor of İzmir Metropolitan Municipality Tunç Soyer was elected as the President of the Chamber of Regions. During the 45th Plenary Session of the Congress, a photo exhibition and a reception were organised with a wide participation in commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Republic of Türkiye, hosted by UMT. In addition to UMT President Yücel Yılmaz, President of the Turkish National Delegation Tahir Büyükakın, President of the Congress Marc Cools and Türkiye Youth Delegate Zeynep Güner also delivered speeches at the reception.