‘We’re living in some difficult times.’ Cary adopts sister city in Turkey

Despite the thousands of miles between them, Cary and Bandirma, Turkey, just got a little closer.

Town Council members unanimously voted to declare Bandirma the town of Cary’s fifth sister city.

“The adoption of Bandirma as a formal sister city will broaden the scope of Cary’s program and demonstrate a commitment to the Sister City’s value, which promotes peace through mutual respect, understanding and cooperation — one individual and one community at a time,” said Kris Carmichael, town staff liaison to the Sister Cities of Cary program and arts and history center supervisor for Cary.

Since 1988, the Sister Cities program has linked Cary to a compatible city or county from another country. According to Council member Jack Smith, liaison to the program, this bond makes way for cultural, educational and business exchanges that emphasize personal connections and learning.

The American-Turkish Association of North Carolina, located in Cary, championed the effort to formalize this relationship, Smith said. It promotes culture and art from Turkey and other nations, according to Birgül Tuzlali, the organization’s former president and current vice president of the Sister Cities of Cary program. The association also facilitates events and celebrations such as Cary’s Children’s Day Festival.

Smith said this new bond with Bandirma helps the town better reflect Cary’s diverse population.

“Sister Cities is just one of the tools that we have as a community to promote our diversity and to promote all of those ideas that are near and dear to us here in Cary,” Smith said. “And Sister Cities, it’s really not a government initiative as much as it’s a people-to-people.”

Cary already has Sister City relationships with Le Touquet, France; Markham, Canada; Hsinchu, Taiwan and County Meath, Ireland.

Bandirma was suggested to Smith by Bandirma native and former ATA-NC President Nur Onvural.

“One day when Jack and I were having a casual conversation, I got involved and I suggested Bandirma because it is my mom’s hometown and that’s where she got married to my dad and that’s where I was born,” Onvural said.

‘Living in difficult times’

Smith said he especially likes how Sister Cities creates possibilities for young people to learn and discover.

“Let’s face it, we’re living in some difficult times,” Smith said. “And anything we can do to keep the political nature out and have the people-to-people nature where kids have an opportunity to meet other kids, students have the opportunity to meet — I’m sure we’re going start seeing some cultural exchanges.”

According to Carmichael, big hopes for Bandirma include business opportunities, exchange programs and youth initiatives. Another major goal in every sister city relationship is developing individualized relationships with members of different countries while celebrating and learning about their culture.

Onvural said this connection provides a deeper understanding of another culture than you get by just Googling it.

“Once you build the relationships, then you start trusting each other and you realize that actually, we all are the same,” she said.

“It doesn’t really matter where we come from,” she continued. “We could be Turkish, we could be American. We could be Muslim, we could be Christian, but at the end of the day, we all are hoping to have that connection and have that relationship with each other.”

City dates to eighth or ninth century

According to Onvural, the talks to join the two communities began in 2019 when she contacted the Southern Marmara Cultural Organization in Turkey, allowing her to connect with Bandirma’s mayor.

Mutual trust and developed, and Bandirma’s town council also unanimously voted to formalize the relationship on Feb. 3.

Bandirma, located in northwestern Turkey on the coast of the Marmara Sea, will be Cary’s first sister city since 2002. The city, which dates back to the eighth or ninth century, is known for its marble, stone and agriculture industries and ancient historical sites.

Bandirma and Cary are similar in multiple ways, Carmichael said, including interests and goals for their relationship, local values, population size and a love for sports.

Council member Jennifer Robinson expressed excitement over the new sister city, and said a sixth sister city, in India, could be added soon, as suggested by citizens, to reflect Cary’s residents of Indian descent.

Tuzlali said she feels proud to see all of the hard work put into the project lead to new connections.

“It looks like the marathon finish line, maybe,” she said. “We started with Bandirma relation-building back in 2019. And now here we are sitting at the town council and watching it being approved after three years of collective work. It does sound like finishing the marathon, but really it’s just the beginning.”

This story was originally published February 28, 2022 at 12:59 PM.