12 October 2009 / TODAY'S ZAMAN WITH WIRES, İSTANBUL
The mayor of the Gaziantep Metropolitan Municipality has stated that officials from the Mongolian capital of Ulan Batur have contacted the municipality to become a sister city to Gaziantep.
Speaking to the Anatolia news agency, Mayor Asım Güzelbey said: “Senior officials in Ulan Batur happen to be people who have previously had a university education in Turkey and who have had the opportunity to visit Turkey. They read about Gaziantep and have a positive impression of the city. They told us of their desire to come to Gaziantep, and we invited them. A delegation came to Gaziantep to have talks with us and see the city.” The mayor added that their goal is to increase Gaziantep's number of sister cities in Central Asian countries within the space of five years. Güzelbey stated that although Mongolia has a small population, the country has a considerably large territory. Gaziantep's first sister city was Duisburg in Germany, followed by Aleppo in Syria, Kuwait 's Kuwait City, the Netherlands' Nijmengen and Karlstad in Sweden.
