Istanbul

The main reason of Istanbul’s being a very popular city for which wars are made, lives are lost is its geographical location…
Let’s review this location first: In its south stretches Marmara Sea and in its north is Black Sea. Its west part is in Europe and east part is in Asia. The important waterline dividing Istanbul into two is the Bosphorus… The only alternative to reach the Aegean Sea and the Meditteranean Sea, therefore to open sea is to use Istanbul and the the Bosphorus…
Istanbul is both the nearest Asian city to Europe and the nearest European city to Asia. What adds to Istanbul’s significance is its being a port city and all trade paths’ passing through the city for thousands of years…
Another important feature of Istanbul is that it has a highly sheltered structure. Especially the center which is presently called as the “historical peninsula”, which was made capital city by both Byzantine and Ottoman Empires and its being located on a hill surrounded by three seas made it almost impossible to be conquered… Indeed, Haliç had the quality of being an unparalleled harbour sheltering navy fleets.

A famous myth explains very precisely the unmatched location of Istanbul :
Commander Byzas, who gave his name to the empire to be later called as Byzantine, sets off to sail to build a new colony from where Greece is located today. During the long voyage and his searches, he goes to an oracle for advice. The oracle makes this prediction: “You are going to build your city right opposite of the land of the blinds!” Continuing his voyage, Byzas reaches to the banks of Sarayburnu, the Istanbul of today. When he sees this protected peninsula, he thinks that it is just the place that he was looking for; meanwhile he notices the area of residence on the opposite side (Kadiköy at present). Byzas decides that the people who, given the excellent area of residence right before them, do not prefer to reside there are blind. And since it also coincides with the prediction, he builds his colony on this land without hesitation…

Istanbul, still geographically perfect!

Although thousands of years have passed, Istanbul still maintains its geographical importance. Today Istanbul is a huge metropolis connecting continents, cultures, religions and being home to eleven million people; and one of the greatest business and cultural center of the region…

Economy of Istanbul

As well as being a capital to three empires, Istanbul is one of the very few cities which is able to maintain its quality of being an economical center. Indeed, although not serving as capital to the new republic declared in 1923, it kept its economically central position and never lost this power to determine the fate of the country. The population of Istanbul, which was 1 million 78 thousand people in 1945, increased to 1 million and 533 thousand with the growth after 1950 and in the following periods, became 7 million 309 thousand in 1990 with an annual increase of 40-50 per thousand, and 9 million 199 thousand in 1997, and became a city with over 10 million people according to the census in 2000. If we briefly look at the economy and business life of the city, the share of Istanbul in the Turkey’s gross national product is 23 percent. Annual contribution of Istanbul to state budget is 40 percent, but in return the share it receives from the state expenditures is around 7-8 percent. The headquarters of all private banks and 21 percent of total bank branches in Turkey are located in Istanbul.

Export and import gate

Istanbul has a central importance in both domestic and international trade. The added value created in Istanbul, reaches 26.5 percent of provincial total added value and trade is the second most important sector in Istanbul after industry. In Turkey, 27 percent of the general added value created in commercial sector is created by Istanbul.
Istanbul is at the same time the most important export and import gate of Turkey. The export of Istanbul makes up 46 percent of Turkey total and the import of Istanbul makes up 40 percent of Turkey total. Istanbul has at hand a great chance thanks to its being center of tourism and a congress. One-fourth of the hotel capacity is owned by five star hotels and almost one-fifth is owned by four star hotels.
Istanbul is also the center of country’s air transport. Along with Atatürk Airport, Pendik Sabiha Gökçen airport on the Anatolian side is serving Istanbul…
14 out of 153 museums in Turkey is located in Istanbul and 34 percent of the 2 million 400 thousand pieces on display is being exhibited in Istanbul…