ISTANBUL - Members of French Senate Delegation visited Istanbul mayor Ali Mufit Gurtuna on Thursday.
Gurtuna gave information about Istanbul and the problems of the city to French Senators Xaviere De Villepin, Hubert Durand Chastel and French Consul General Jean Christophe Peacelle.
Noting that the water problem of the city was solved until the year 2040, Gurtuna said that the population of Istanbul which was 1 million in 1950s exceeded 10 million in 2000s. ''Our main problem is illegally employed workers,'' said Gurtuna.
Gurtuna pointed out that there were approximately 50,000 minorities in Istanbul, adding that ''we have very friendly relations with people belonging to Armenian, Greek, Syriac, Catholic and Jewish communities.''
French senator Villepin said that they also had the problem of illegally employed workers, which was difficult to solve.
Upon a question of Villepin about tourism, Gurtuna said that Istanbul was one of the most different and touristic cities in the world with its 3,000 years of history. Villepin told Gurtuna that ''you will become a rival to Paris. Annually 70 million tourists come to Paris.'' Gurtuna noted that Sorbonne University granted world city planning big award to Istanbul municipality this year.
Upon questions of reporters, Villepin said that they came to Turkey to meet with government officials and to see what kind of problems Turkey had prior to its membership to the EU.
Villepin said that they believed that Turkey recorded significant progress.
Noting that France was the biggest investor in Turkey, Villepin said that there were approximately 500,000 Turkish people living in France and the members of the Turkish community adapted themselves well to the social life of France.
Villepin added that they would voice the solidarity and friendship between Turkey and France in the report they would submit to the French parliament.
(Öª) 18.09.2003