1/9/2024 0 Comments Rename it istanbul![]() Its commercial and historical center lies in Europe, while a third of its population lives in Asia.įounded on the Sarayburnu promontory around 660 BC as Byzantium, the city now known as Istanbul developed to become one of the most significant cities in history. Istanbul is a transcontinental city, straddling the Bosphorus-one of the world's busiest waterways-in northwestern Turkey, between the Sea of Marmara and the Black Sea. Istanbul's vast area of 5,343 square kilometers is coterminous with Istanbul Province, of which the city is the administrative capital. With a population of 13.9 million, the city forms one of the largest urban agglomerations in Europe and is the second-largest city in the world by population within city limits. Istanbul is the largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. A 50 million euro investment, 205 million euros cash payback from the state in six years.Freebase (0.00 / 0 votes) Rate this definition: The end result? The state paid the airport operating 205,281,118 euros. The actual number differed by over 95 percent. Over the past six years, the airport served some 124,867 passengers while the state guaranteed the contractor at least 2.4 million passengers in that period. Constructed with a total investment of 50 million euros and leased under the contract for a period of 29 years and 11 months. If almost all projects constructed under such schemes so far have failed and the Treasury is paying for the remaining almost two thirds of the guaranteed usage with our money, this model cannot be a success.įor example, a colleague spent time last week to research the great failure of the Kütahya airport built six years ago. Rather, he ought to be remembered with his dedication to the republic-that he was stressing as his biggest achievement-and other efforts to create a sovereign democracy respecting gender equality, citizenship rights and of course supremacy of law and equality of all in front of the law.Īs the third airport is being constructed with the same build-operate-transfer (BOT) model with “guaranteed usage” by the Turkish Treasury that has badly failed so far, it might be even a great insult to the memory of Atatürk to remember him with such acts. He cannot be commemorated with such officious undertakings. With or without his name being given to various buildings in the country or his pins carried on lapels, Atatürk was a legendary hero who achieved an outstanding military and political victory and established a republic on the ashes of the Ottoman Empire. Such attitudes were perhaps the biggest curse on Atatürk. Naming squares, hospitals, stadiums, airports after Atatürk, or placing Atatürk pins on lapels, was a by-product of the militarist mentality developed in this country after the 1980 military coup. Who could dispute such sentiments and demands under the current real politik of Turkey.įrankly, I believe the pugnacious debate over what ought to be the name of the airport is over exaggerated. However, there are people who strongly believe the largest airport of Europe must carry the name of the “biggest statesman” of the continent, Erdoğan. Those who suggest the airport be named after Abdul Hamid are probably in an officious effort to appease President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan who is known to have a very high regard for the former sultan. That table was later presented to Turkey by the Swiss government and is now at the Ethnography Museum of Ankara. No joke, the Lausanne Treaty was signed on the table manufactured by him. Why would an airport be named after a former sultan of the long-dead empire? Was that sultan a pioneer in aviation? No, apart from staying in power for 46 years full of defeats and retreats for the Turkish state, he was a skilled carpenter. According to some who still feel a belonging to the long-dead Ottoman Empire demand the airport be named after Ottoman Sultan Abdul Hamid II, who is often revered by political Islamists in Turkey as their forefather.
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