Addressing an opening ceremony in Bitlis, President Erdoğan said: “We speak by actions, not by empty words. Our biggest reference is our works and services. Just as we do not discriminate among our citizens, we do not discriminate among our cities or regions either.”

“We are in Bitlis today and hopefully in Muş tomorrow to commemorate the 952nd anniversary of the Manzikert Victory. We want to celebrate this magnificent victory, which opened Anatolia’s gates for us, as well as to inaugurate the newly-completed projects. With today’s mass opening ceremony, we are officially putting into service public and private investments worth nearly 12.5 billion liras in total in current costs,” Erdoğan said. “Among these investments are the services and projects undertaken by all of our institutions including provincial special administrations, municipalities, national education, religious affairs, foundations, security, highways, and state hydraulic works. We are thereby officially putting 75 items of works and services at the disposal of Bitlis in the form of public investments. In addition, we are opening 34 firms in the Bitlis Organized Industrial Zone that will generate employment for our 3,000 brothers and sisters.” 

“We have made a total of 40 billion liras’ worth of public investments in Bitlis over the past 21 years”

Erdoğan stated: “We speak by actions, not by empty words. Our biggest reference is our works and services. Just as we do not discriminate among our citizens, we do not discriminate among our cities or regions either. While bringing services to Istanbul, Ankara or İzmir, never do we neglect Muş, Bitlis or Şırnak. We work to make sure that whatever opportunities our citizens living in the west benefit from, our brothers and sisters living here also benefit from the same. Accordingly, we have made a total of 40 billion liras’ worth of public investments in Bitlis over the past 21 years.”

Citing some of the services and projects launched in Bitlis, President Erdoğan went onto say: “In the area of education, we have built 2,690 new classrooms. We have inaugurated Bitlis Eren University. We have opened a 2,900-person capacity university dormitory and 19 sports facilities. We have allocated 5.5 billion liras in total for those in need in the city over the past 21 years. In the area of health, we have put into service 36 healthcare facilities, including 11 hospitals with a total bed capacity of 1,210. The 12 further healthcare facilities we will build in Bitlis, including the 50-bed capacity Adilcevaz State Hospital, are in the project, bidding or land allocation phases. We have already handed over 4,608 houses built by TOKİ to their owners, with 310 others currently under construction. There are five nation’s garden projects in the city, with two of them already in use and three others currently under construction due for inauguration next year. In urban transformation, we have completed the transformation of 328 residences and 938 work places. Four wastewater treatment facilities are now in service in the city, which had had no such facility by the time we came to power. The divided roads in Bitlis stood at 19 kilometers in length in 2002, which we have increased to 307 kilometers in total with the addition of 288 kilometers. We have built the Kuskunkıran Tunnel, Buzlupınar Tunnel, Sarıkonak Tunnel and 8 Ağustos Tunnel as well as the 8 Ağustos Viaduct, and have completed the construction of the Bitlis Beltway.” (ILKHA)