Istanbul, bridge between east and west, the only city that lies on two continents together by the Bosphorus Strait, could lose their unique status. The Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan Reccep, has announced its intention to split it in two cities to win the general election in June. Erdogan, who was mayor of Istanbul before entering national politics, has presented the project as part of his party's election, the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).
Erdogan explained that the city, where currently 15 million people live, walk to the 17. Divided into two cities, one on the European side and one on the Asian shore would make it more "livable." Istanbul currently comprises an area of 5,343 square kilometers, 39 districts, two phone codes - 212 for the European side and 216 for Asian and a population growing at a rate of 3.3% per year.
According to Onur Özger, manager of Bilgili Holding, one of the largest companies in the real estate sector, its inhabitants would reach 23 million in 2023, when they met a century since Istanbul lost its status as capital by Ankara. If successful this initiative, the two cities would be connected by a transport system that includes a third bridge over the Bosphorus - which would add to the existing two-and a tunnel and an underground metro to decongest traffic.
The city plans also include creating a new business center in the neighborhood of Atesehir, on the Asian side, as part of the Government's commitment to deepen the country's economic growth. Erdogan has promised to reveal more of his "crazy project", as it is known in Turkey, at a public ceremony on 27 April.
However, everything seems to indicate that the project would be supported by other political forces. Without going any further, the CHP, the main opposition party, claimed authorship of it. Akif Hamzaçebi, vice president of education said this weekend that the "project of the two cities is essentially an idea of the CHP." She said it was he who first introduced the idea in the agenda during a parliamentary meeting in 2007.
"Do not try to steal the project. The patent is ours," Erdogan said on Saturday. There are still many unresolved issues. Among them, what are the names of the two new cities. To change, Istanbul became one of the names less lived than the city has had. Although the capital of the Ottoman Empire was known as Istanbul after the fall of Constantinople in 1453, European nations did not stop using the old gentile until 1930, when that mail from the newly created Republic of Turkey decided not to deliver the packages that were written "Constantinople" in the recipient. 
Erdogan explained that the city, where currently 15 million people live, walk to the 17. Divided into two cities, one on the European side and one on the Asian shore would make it more "livable." Istanbul currently comprises an area of 5,343 square kilometers, 39 districts, two phone codes - 212 for the European side and 216 for Asian and a population growing at a rate of 3.3% per year.
According to Onur Özger, manager of Bilgili Holding, one of the largest companies in the real estate sector, its inhabitants would reach 23 million in 2023, when they met a century since Istanbul lost its status as capital by Ankara. If successful this initiative, the two cities would be connected by a transport system that includes a third bridge over the Bosphorus - which would add to the existing two-and a tunnel and an underground metro to decongest traffic.
The city plans also include creating a new business center in the neighborhood of Atesehir, on the Asian side, as part of the Government's commitment to deepen the country's economic growth. Erdogan has promised to reveal more of his "crazy project", as it is known in Turkey, at a public ceremony on 27 April.
However, everything seems to indicate that the project would be supported by other political forces. Without going any further, the CHP, the main opposition party, claimed authorship of it. Akif Hamzaçebi, vice president of education said this weekend that the "project of the two cities is essentially an idea of the CHP." She said it was he who first introduced the idea in the agenda during a parliamentary meeting in 2007.
"Do not try to steal the project. The patent is ours," Erdogan said on Saturday. There are still many unresolved issues. Among them, what are the names of the two new cities. To change, Istanbul became one of the names less lived than the city has had. Although the capital of the Ottoman Empire was known as Istanbul after the fall of Constantinople in 1453, European nations did not stop using the old gentile until 1930, when that mail from the newly created Republic of Turkey decided not to deliver the packages that were written "Constantinople" in the recipient.
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