Ibrahim Kamil: With only one vote you will give, power and trust will be from you, service and loyalty will be from us

In the local elections to be held on 8 October in Greece, Ibrahim Kamil, Civil Engineer, Candidate for State Assembly Member for the Prefecture of Rhodope in the New Regional Rebirth List headed by the President of the Eastern Macedonia and Thrace Province Christos Metios, answered questions about politics.

Asked why he decided to enter politics, how he evaluates politics, what kind of political profile he wants to draw, his political understanding, principles, promises and what his message is to the citizens, state parliamentary candidate İbrahim Kamil stated the following while answering the questions;

Millet Newspaper: This society has known you as a successful civil engineer for many years. Surely, there must be a political view you are close to or a political party you are a party to. This time we saw you right in the middle of politics. We will ask why, but first let us get to know İbrahim Kamil. Briefly who is İbrahim Kamil?

İbrahim Kamil: I am known by many people due to the work I do. However, first of all, I would like to thank you very much for enabling me to reach a wider audience and to share my thoughts with them. I would like to underline that you, the members of the press, perform a very valuable duty as you both help the public to receive accurate information and news and help politicians to see the truth with your criticisms. I was born in 1974 in Komotini. After graduating from Kırmahalle Minority Primary School in 1986, I attended the 2nd State Secondary School in Komotini and graduated in 1989. I attended the Multi-Branch State High School in Komotini. After graduating in 1992, I continued my education at Boğaziçi University, Department of Civil Engineering. After a four-year education, I transferred to the Department of Civil Engineering at the Dimocritus University of Thrace and graduated in 1999. In 1995-1996, I served as the Founding President of the Young Academics Society (GAT). Since 2000, I have been actively working as a Civil Engineer in Komotini. Since 2018, I have been the Chairman of the Standing Committee on Urban Planning, Spatial Planning, Built Environment, Architectural Heritage and Culture of the Chamber of Engineers of Thrace. I have been a manager in sports and cultural associations. I am married and have two children.

MN:  Why did you decide to enter politics now and why did you run for the provincial assembly of the province of Rodopi from the New Regional Rebirth List headed by Mr Christos Metios?

İK: Until today, I have tried to stay relatively far away from politics on the basis of candidacy due to the intensity of my work. However, I have always supported the New Democracy Party, of which I am a member, in both local and general elections. However, away from active politics, I have always been close to our people, institutions and organisations of our minority. I have tried to produce remedies and solutions to their problems and problems to the extent of my own power. But in this process, I have seen that the solution to many problems is based on politics. I have come to the conclusion that it is necessary to take part in the political arena in order to provide solution-oriented service to the problems of our friends, our friends, in short, all our people. When this conviction was reached, I naturally became a candidate from my own party. For this reason, I responded positively to the nomination proposal of Mr Hristos Metios, with whom we have a personal friendship.

MN: How do you evaluate the politics you will be actively involved in from now on and what kind of a politician profile do you aim to draw?

İK: As a new politician, I find it more logical to apply my own political understanding instead of criticising today's politics. In my opinion, a good politician should be a good listener with patience. Because politics aims to fulfil the needs and expectations of society. It is not possible to achieve this without listening and empathising. In addition, a politician should be honest, open and transparent in order to fulfil the needs of the voters. He/she should endeavour to meet the expectations of the voters through direct communication with them. Providing public services, ensuring social justice, solving various social problems, increasing the welfare of the society, protecting human rights and promoting economic growth should be the goals of politics and politicians. No one should have the slightest doubt that I will implement a political understanding with this motto. I know that our region is the poorest region in Greece and that many people from our region are emigrating due to economic concerns and we will make great efforts personally and as a team to put a stop to this trend.

MN: In terms of political understanding and principles, what you say is very nice and sounds very good. However, as members of the press, we know that our people or voters expect more concrete political promises from politicians. Which concrete political promises do you make to our people or voters?

İK: If I get the chance to be elected with the countenance of our people, there are many problems that I am aware of from my professional experience and whose solution is urgent. For example, there are villages whose village boundaries have not been determined. I will help to determine the boundaries of these villages such as Kalfa, Hasköy and I will endeavour to solve this problem quickly. Again, the issue of correcting the fields and lands that appear on the mira and state land maps in places such as Çelebiköy, Karacaoğlan village, balkan branch region is one of the biggest problems of our people. I will make great efforts to solve this problem. With the help of the state, no one should doubt that I will help to remove the definition of our cemeteries as forest areas on the maps and to solve the problems experienced in issuing deeds, especially in the Balkan region. It is also my political commitment to help the State to eliminate the errors in the Land Registry Cadastre notifications and to ensure that our people benefit in the best possible way during the General Urban and Regional Planning. In order for our Minority to benefit from the European Union programmes such as ESPA, LEADER, etc., it is among my political goals to create an office under the roof of the State, which will include personnel from the Minority, and to raise awareness of our people. In order to prevent migration to some extent, I will work persistently to create new job opportunities especially for our youth and people by making our region attractive for foreign investors. I am not mentioning here the services that the state is obliged to provide as public services. They will be done routinely and we will only follow them. However, I think that our region is geographically very suitable for the development of tourism, and I want everyone to know that I will make a special effort for its development.

MN: I think these concrete political promises are among the expectations of many people. Their solution will also contribute economically in the long term. What would you like to say as a politician and candidate for the state parliament?

İK: Before I make my final remarks, I would like to add a few things that I forgot to mention. As a society, we lead an agriculture-indexed life. We are a hard-working society and although we have a narrow land, we produce well. However, we have a problem with the market. I will also endeavour to find new markets. I will also endeavour for our sports teams and associations to benefit from EU funds. As a final word, in the elections to be held on 8 October 2023 for local governments, I am a candidate for the provincial council member of the province of Rhodope from the New Regional Rebirth List headed by Mr. Hristos Metios. I aspire for the strong support of our people with the belief that we will be stronger together and that you will not withhold this power from me. I sincerely wish everyone well-being and thank you once again for making my voice heard. I would like to conclude this interview with my slogan: WITH YOUR VOTE, POWER AND CONFIDENCE FROM YOU, SERVICE AND Loyalty FROM US!