Second Urban Garden Opens in Koşukavak

Bornova Municipality has launched the second phase of its Urban Gardens project in Koşukavak Neighborhood to involve housewives from disadvantaged communities in production. With 52 women growing crops from heirloom seeds, the garden offers a safe space that strengthens social solidarity. At the opening ceremony, Mayor Ömer Eşki emphasized, “Where there are women, life becomes more beautiful,” while CHP Women’s Branch Central Executive Board Member Rahşan Halat Hazlıoğlu highlighted the importance of making women’s contributions to agriculture more visible.

Seen as a vital step toward both access to healthy food and women’s empowerment, the opening took place with a large turnout at the Atatürk Cultural Center NGO Campus, located next to the garden. Among those attending were CHP Women’s Branch MYK Member Rahşan Halat Hazlıoğlu, CHP İzmir Provincial Women’s Branch Chair Zahide Kurun, CHP Bornova district officials, council members, neighborhood heads, and many citizens. After the ceremony, saplings were planted in the garden.

Mayor Ömer Eşki: “Where there are women, life becomes more beautiful”

During his speech, Bornova Mayor Ömer Eşki stated that the urban gardens are not just production areas, but also safe environments where women can be more visible in social life. He noted, “In the past, neighborhood heads used to ask me for parks. Now they ask me to remove them, because parks are no longer safe spaces for women and children. So, we thought of Urban Gardens as an alternative. When women reconnect with the soil, transformation happens in every aspect of life. Negativity cannot survive where women are present. The day we open one garden, we start planning the next—because we know that where there are women, there is life.”

Rahşan Halat Hazlıoğlu: “Women who do not abandon the land are the embodiment of hope”

CHP Women’s Branch MYK Member Rahşan Halat Hazlıoğlu also spoke about the significance of May 14, World Farmers’ Day:

“Republic founder Atatürk viewed agriculture as the foundation of development. Today, producers are drowning in debt and agriculture is almost entirely dependent on foreign imports. The situation is even more difficult for women farmers. Women, who are inherently connected to the land, are made invisible in production, denied property rights, and counted merely as unpaid family workers. These are some of the core problems in the system. Yet despite these challenges, women continue to produce—and they are the guarantee of our country’s food independence. We will not leave them alone.”

Koşukavak Neighborhood Head Senem Üzer and Birlik Neighborhood Head Fatih Akdağ also spoke at the event, thanking the Bornova Municipality and Mayor Eşki for leading the project.

Solidarity, Food Security, and Empowered Women

In the 5-decare (5,000 m²) garden, women cultivate vegetables in their individual 25-square-meter plots without using chemicals, producing healthy food. This initiative contributes to household incomes while also strengthening neighborhood solidarity.