(BALIKESİR) – Balıkesir Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Ahmet Akın played a friendly match with the Celebrities Team, consisting of theater actors such as Bülent Şakrak, Şahin Irmak, Hakan Bilgin, Burcu Kirman, İpek Erdem and Ceren Taşçı, with Balıkesir BŞB Wheelchair Basketball Team at the event held within the scope of World Disabled People’s Day. The winner of the match, in which celebrities also sweated in wheelchairs for the purpose of awareness, was friendship. The “Disabled Persons’ Day Friendship Match”, organized to raise awareness on the occasion of December 3, World Disabled Day, was held at Alparslan Türkeş Sports Hall in cooperation with Balıkesir Metropolitan Municipality and Balıkesir City Council. After a moment of silence and the reading of the National Anthem, the match started with a jump ball by CHP Balıkesir Deputy Serkan Sarı, and Ünlüler Team wore red and white jerseys. The match between Balıkesir Büyükşehir Belediyespor Wheelchair Basketball Team and Ünlüler Team witnessed colorful images. Bülent Şakrak, Şahin Irmak, Burcu Kirman, İpek Erdem and Ceren Taşçı took part in the Ünlüler Team under the captaincy of Balıkesir Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Ahmet Akın. A message of unity and solidarity was given in the match between Balıkesir BŞB Wheelchair Basketball Team and Ünlüler Team, captained by Esra Şentürk and consisting of Ecem Adıgüzel, Muhterem Aktaş, Ali Kabakülekler, Nuri Kılıç, Ali Asker Turan, Cihangir Engin and Mehdi Ghorbani. The announcement of the match was made by the famous actor Hakan Bilgin.President Ahmet Akın played with 8 points, 2 assists and 2 reboundsIn the match that took place in an exciting atmosphere, Bülent Şakrak, who scored 8 points and made 2 assists for the Ünlüler Team, and Balıkesir Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Ahmet Akın became the stars of the match with 8 points, 2 assists and 2 rebounds. From the players of Balıkesir Büyükşehir Belediyespor Wheelchair Basketball Team; Ecem Adıgüzel impressed with 12 points, Esra Şentürk scored 4 points, Muhterem Aktaş scored 2 points and Ali Asker Turan scored 2 points and finished the match with a 20-17 victory.“What we must not forget is that everyone is a disabled candidate.”Balıkesir Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Ahmet Akın emphasized that they are working to make Balıkesir a barrier-free city and said: “We are happy to carry out such an awareness event with the support of the artists. Our artists touched us and made us happy. They are smiling people whom Turkey loves, this is how they raise awareness.” We are grateful to them for accompanying the event. I would like to thank them on behalf of all my fellow citizens of Balıkesir. We have a dream of making Balıkesir “Barrier-Free Balıkesir” and we are working for this. For example, we started with our parks, there are also problems in education. In European countries, 60 percent of disabled people continue their education after a certain point, but in Turkey this figure is below 20 percent. In terms of employment, 22.8 percent of disabled people in Europe do not have a job. This rate is below 6 percent in Turkey while owning and maintaining a business. We must not forget that everyone is a disabled candidate, so we will live together in unity and solidarity by putting ourselves in their place. I send my love to my disabled friends and siblings. I invite everyone to join our struggle for barrier-free Balıkesir.” Stating that they were welcomed very well in Balıkesir, actor Bülent Şakrak said, “Everything was wonderful. A great success; Friends, they played it like a Nazım Hikmet poem. It was a very nice experience for us. I’m glad I’m here. The people of Balıkesir are very sweet, we were welcomed wonderfully. We already love President Ahmet very much. We promise to be here as long as such wonderful things are being done, we will always come. He expressed his happiness by saying, “Whenever you call, we come running.” Stating that they had an enjoyable match behind, player Hakan Bilgin said, “This is a very good awareness campaign. Thank you to everyone who contributed. I love President Ahmet. “He is a very social and friendly person,” he said. Successful actress Burcu Kirman said, “We are here to raise awareness within the scope of December 3, World Disability Day. “We hope tomorrow will be better for them than today,” he said. Stating that he was happy to be in Balıkesir, Ceren Taşçı drew attention to the barrier-free life with the words, “It is actually very difficult for disabled people to live under the conditions in Turkey. At some point, we are here to raise awareness about this.” Touching on the importance of raising awareness, even to some extent, Şahin Irmak said, “It was very valuable for us to be here on such a day. Thank you very much for inviting us. It was difficult but enjoyable. “We appreciate Ahmet President’s work on the issue and thank him.”“Our wish is to be able to live together in every field without encountering obstacles.”Ecem Nur Adıgüzel and Esra Şentürk, players of Balıkesir BŞB Wheelchair Basketball Team, within the scope of the friendly match; Evaluating the match they played with President Ahmet Akın and the Ünlüler Team, he said, “Our wish is to be able to live together in every field, without encountering obstacles.”
Speaking at the end of the friendly match, CHP Balıkesir Deputy Serkan Sarı said, “I would like to thank our Balıkesir Metropolitan Municipality Mayor, our City Council, and our artists who added excitement and happiness to this day.” He said:
