Heaven Gökova Gulf and Ören

First among these is our famous sailor Sadun Boro. Boro, whom we know as the first Turk to sail around the world with his sailboat named "Kısmet", was one of the first to fight for the promotion of Gökova and keeping it clean.

We should definitely mention an environmental volunteer like Saynur Gelendost, who has fought for years to preserve the natural beauty of Gökova Bay.

The name of our famous poet and writer Melih Cevdet Anday, who made Ören, located in the middle of the Gökova Gulf, his home and contributed greatly to its recognition, is also worth mentioning.

The Gulf of Gökova is completely divided among the districts of Muğla. Of these districts, Ören beaches also fall into Milas. In other words, the only beach in the Milas district of Gökova is heaven. You will understand why I specifically emphasized this in the following sections of my article.

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After the metropolitan structuring, many town municipalities were closed and connected to the district municipalities of which they were geographically a part.

I don't know what was thought in this type of structure. However, if the aim was to save money, we saw that it didn't happen. Supposedly, a larger geography would be served with fewer personnel and less equipment. This didn't happen. It couldn't have happened anyway...

So what happened? The number of personnel somehow increased again. Was there a saving in equipment? Maybe there was, but the number of towns/neighborhoods benefiting from it decreased. The explanation of this expression is: Equipment was concentrated more in district centers. Those were the crowded places, the votes would come from there.

So what happened to the towns whose municipalities were revoked? They became neighborhoods that depended on the district mayors. If the mayor did not say, “I don’t have the means, I don’t have the money, I don’t have the staff, I don’t have the equipment,” and if he was so kind, their needs were met. If not, they weren’t. Actually, we need to ask, “Then why are you sitting in that chair?”

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After this general evaluation, let's come to the Ören neighborhood, the only coastal area of ​​Milas located in the Gökova Gulf.

Until 2014, Ören was a town and had a mayor. It had already experienced the "Age of Bliss" period until this date. After this date, it was turned into a neighborhood affiliated with Milas and its municipality was abolished. Municipal services were now provided from Milas, 42 kilometers away.

Compared to Milas with a population of 150 thousand, Ören with a population of 4 thousand was too small to be considered for a mayor who should provide equal service to everyone.

Instead of long distances, it was both easier and more 'voted' to provide service to places right under your nose in the center. How else can it be explained that the work of Ören, which has an 8-kilometer coastline, is done with a digger and a truck?

There are also the stepchildren of Ören's coastal area. While the 2-3 km long coastline of "Yalı", the touristic place of Ören, is treated as a biological child and all available resources are mobilized to that side, leaving the other 5 km to fend for itself is the most obvious indicator of injustice.

The most important indicator of this is not taking care of the 5-kilometer-long beaches (which would not exceed 2 kilometers if you put them together), not cleaning them, not organizing them, not putting umbrellas or sun loungers on them. Is it also an expression of this "magnificent municipality" understanding to ruin some beach sections that used to be neat with construction equipment and to create excuses for not putting umbrellas or sun loungers on them?

When I see all this, I think, some places regret not having a beach, some places try to fix their bad beaches. In Ören, the existing beaches are almost being destroyed or they are being allowed to disappear.

In Ören, where a maximum of two-story buildings are permitted due to being an earthquake zone, we have recently seen that third floors have been permitted in some buildings. Perhaps this is the best expression of the understanding of municipality here.

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Ören's misfortune is not limited to being under the Milas Municipality. There is also the 'infrastructure' problem that has become a 'bleeding wound' for years.

To solve this issue, MUSKİ (Muğla Water and Sewage Works) is starting infrastructure work in Ören with a loan received from abroad. This project, which will save the neighborhood from septic tanks and Gökova Bay from pollution, was supposedly supposed to be completed 8 months ago.

The contractor company has still not finished the job. The work is almost at a standstill. No one has any idea when it will be finished. Some of the main roads and all of the connecting roads are covered in dust.

The worst part is that when the project first started, the infrastructure work in Ören was divided into 2 stages. Due to this magnificent "foresight", even if the current project is finished, only the first stage of the work will be finished. In other words, dusty days await Ören again for the second stage work. How many years will it take to finish this?

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Perhaps the negativities of appointing someone who served as a member of parliament for one term after three terms as mayor are being experienced in Ören. Whether you call it incompetence, desperation or whatever, in the end there is a group of citizens who are suffering from an incompetent understanding of municipality. I hope that the mentality that smiles at the citizens when they come to ask for their votes will at least move away from the culture of making excuses after taking office.

Or, the most correct thing is that Ören will regain its own municipality and be freed from Milas.