Cities of solidarity: Leoluca Orlando and Tunç Soyer talk to Lorenzo Marsili

Abstract

As mayor of Palermo, Leoluca Orlando is famous for having stood up to the Mafia, and he has more recently become of champion of the rights of refugees. He is also part of the pilot project for a global parliament of mayors. Tunç Soyer, who is mayor of İzmir, pursues a similarly welcoming approach to the city's refugees, and the city has also has a climate change department. The two Mediterranean cities have been establishing relationships of solidarity with each other, and here discuss shared concerns, and their belief that cities are often better able to meet current global challenges - such as protecting the rights of refugees and migrants, and combatting the climate emergency - than are nation states. This is part of the 'Other Europes' series.