Turkish governor replaces official cars with bicycles for ‘healthier public workers’

BURDUR – Doğan News Agency

AA photo

Some 233 bicycles have been distributed to kindergarten students and the managers of public institutions by the Public Health Directorate in the southern province of Burdur in order to promote “healthier living.” 

“We want all personnel to be fit,” Yılmaz said at a ceremony held at Gazi Atatürk Stadium on March 7, adding that some officials would no longer receive a private vehicle allocation.

“From now on, we are lifting the private vehicle allocation for transporting articles and documents,” Burdur Gov. Şerif Yılmaz said at the ceremony. “When our friends working in all institutions start to ride bicycles, both intercity traffic and the waste at public institutions will be lowered. In this way, we will promote exercise. We will get used to mobile living. We don’t want bellied managers or thin personnel. All of them should be fit,” he also said. 

Some 180 bicycles were given to kindergarten students and 53 were given to a total of 27 public institutions in order for them to be used in transportation. 

Yılmaz was accompanied by a number of high-level officials, including Mayor Ali Orkun Ercengiz from the Republican People’s Party (CHP), Provincial Gendarmerie Commander Col. Tayfun Dündar and provincial police head Saim Akpınar. 

Noting that bicycles had been given to the Burdur Association of Journalists, Yılmaz said “they will be able to reach the news as soon as possible.”

“Now, the excuse of not having a vehicle has disappeared. You have the opportunity to reach the news in the shortest time possible,” he also said. 

Public Health Director Sevinç Sütlü, meanwhile, said she hoped “to see parked bicycles rather than parked cars.”

“We hope our children, who start to ride bicycles at the age of 7, will go to work or the market with bicycles when they reach the age of 70. With the order from our governor, we are giving bicycles to public institutions for the distribution of documents. We want to see parked bicycles rather than vehicles in the garden of our governor’s office,” Sütlü said.

The bicycles were delivered to the recipients after the ceremony.