City Tour in Beşiktaş
City Tour in Beşiktaş
The Beşiktaş Municipality organized a city tour event in Beşiktaş as part of the European Local Democracy Week (ELDW) held on October 15-21, 2018.
The ELDW is an event held annually with the purpose of promoting and encouraging democratic participation on the local level. Based on the 2018 theme of the European Local Democracy Week, which is “Citizen Participation, Consultation and Commitment: for a Thriving Local Democracy”, the Beşiktaş Municipality organized a city tour with the participation of the citizens of Beşiktaş, non-governmental organizations, neighborhood representatives, and the staff members of the Municipality. The objective was to increase awareness about the history of the values and venues that symbolize Beşiktaş. For instance, where does the name of our district “Beşiktaş” come from, what is the importance of Beşiktaş in the history of our republic, etc. The marching tour, which provided the attendees not only with the answers to such questions but also with the opportunity to get to know about the legendary personalities and events in the history of Beşiktaş, continued all along the shore of Beşiktaş and ended with the visit of the Beşiktaş JK Museum, the largest and first officially-registered sports museum in Turkey. At the end of the tour, family photos were taken as a celebration of the European Local Democracy Week.
The event, which was held with the purpose of getting to know our district Beşiktaş and contributing to dialog between our citizens through social participation, ended with a family photo.
What is ELDW?
The European Local Democracy Week (ELDW), launched in 2007 as an initiative of the Council of Europe and its Congress, is held annually around October 15th by the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe, with the purpose of commemorating the European Charter of Local Self-Government signed on October 15th, 1985 and raising citizens' awareness of and participation in local democracy in Europe. During the week, local elected representatives and citizens across the member states of the Council of Europe are brought together at public events and discussions to meet and engage with their citizens on issues of current interest and are fostered to develop targeted programs and activities according to their own priorities. The local governments attending the event are awarded with the tittle of ’12 Star City’, which is the symbol of the European Union, by the Council of Europe. The organization also aims to promote and support democratic participation on local level.
With the social awareness activities regarding the event, our Municipality was awarded consecutively in 2016 and 2017 with the ’12 Star City’ title, one of the most prestigious awards granted to cities every year by the Council of Europe.
