FYI Posted July 29, 2011 Report Share Posted July 29, 2011 I'm sure the IOC is waiting with open arms, too. Considering that they may wind up with only four 2020 bids. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baron-pierreIV Posted July 29, 2011 Report Share Posted July 29, 2011 If it were just MIRT (Madrid, Istanbul, Roma, Tokyo), I think that's as good a cast the IOC can hope for considering they've ticked off other majors like the USA and France. Brazil and Russia are out by default. And since Dubai will be holding out for 2024, then at least Durban will have some company then. They can't be too greedy since they've also ticked off a few of their regular patrons. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FYI Posted July 29, 2011 Report Share Posted July 29, 2011 You're right. It's not like they would lack candidates in a short-list with just these 4 anyway. Like 2018, all 4 will be included on the 2020 short-list, regardless. Even Istanbul. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob2012 Posted July 30, 2011 Report Share Posted July 30, 2011 Flights booked, will be spending a week in this city in October! Now just need to find somewhere to stay. Hopefully I'll come back a supporter of your 2020 bid. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
emre Posted July 30, 2011 Author Report Share Posted July 30, 2011 Flights booked, will be spending a week in this city in October! Now just need to find somewhere to stay. Hopefully I'll come back a supporter of your 2020 bid. aha give me a call if u need help... also u can add me from facebook or else. none problema. it will be a pleasure to help u. also a turkish coffee if we can have a time to meet... i offer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob2012 Posted July 30, 2011 Report Share Posted July 30, 2011 Thank you, I'll be with a group of friends but we'll see how it goes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
emre Posted July 30, 2011 Author Report Share Posted July 30, 2011 anytime u need Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
memorabilia Posted July 30, 2011 Report Share Posted July 30, 2011 Flights booked, will be spending a week in this city in October! Now just need to find somewhere to stay. Hopefully I'll come back a supporter of your 2020 bid. Eh, I will spend a week-end in september ! Everyone wants to visit before the bidding process starts to make its own opinion !!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
emre Posted July 31, 2011 Author Report Share Posted July 31, 2011 Eh, I will spend a week-end in september ! Everyone wants to visit before the bidding process starts to make its own opinion !!! same as ı told to robh... if u need help dont hesitate to ask Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jawnbc Posted August 1, 2011 Report Share Posted August 1, 2011 There are lots of 2nd and 3rd class business hotels around Taksim area. Most cater to the regional market so by European standards they're very in expensive. €30-40 a night isn't unusual. See what's well reviewed on TripAdvisor and go from there. Eh, I will spend a week-end in september ! Everyone wants to visit before the bidding process starts to make its own opinion !!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baron-pierreIV Posted August 4, 2011 Report Share Posted August 4, 2011 Here's a story from NPR: http://www.ideastream.org/news/npr/138955989 Turkey Undergoes A 'Silent Revolution' Politics in Turkey have just undergone a profound shift. For decades, Turkey's military leaders repeatedly launched coups and other interventions to bring about an end to civilian governments they felt were straying too far from the country's secular traditions. But with the resignations last week of the top Turkish commanders — including the chiefs of staff of each service branch — civilian authorities have, for the first time in the nation's history, clearly gained the upper hand. "The military has finally seen that its standing is in free fall," says Soner Cagaptay, director of the Turkish research program at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. "They have conceded defeat." That may be a positive sign of Turkey's maturation. The republic appears to have outgrown its military DNA and the notion that the country was ultimately owned by the army. But even as it appears to be moving toward a more mainstream model of Western democracy, with firm civilian control, some worry that the scaling back of the military's power means there are no real checks on the power of the ruling Justice and Development Party, known as the AK Party or AKP. The AKP, which has Islamic roots, has established its authority over the judiciary and jailed its critics by the dozen — not just admirals and generals, but journalists and people working for civil society organizations as well. "After a decade, the ruling party now has control of all the levers of power in Turkey," Cagaptay says. "The military was considered the last institution standing that could intervene. Now, the resignations are a sign that the military, too, has snapped." Turkey's Military Tradition After World War I, modern Turkey was born out of the ashes of the old Ottoman Empire. Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, who had led the country's war of independence and became its first president, established Turkey as a secular democracy. Ironically, Ataturk imposed changes such as creating political parties and abolishing the caliphate, or theocratic Islamic rule, through authoritarian means. Before there was a Turkish republic, after all, there was a Turkish army. Some historians view Turkey as a country that was, at its roots, set up by army officers. That may be overstating things, but the military has, in fact, taken its role as guardian of Turkey's secular traditions quite seriously. Since 1960, the army has overthrown top civilian leaders four times for perceived violations of those traditions, whether by putting tanks into the streets of Istanbul and Ankara, the capital, or by issuing a memorandum that led to the bloodless "postmodern coup" of 1997. A Slow Paradigm Shift But things have changed over the past decade. Recep Teyyip Erdogan, who has been prime minister since AKP took power in 2002, has successfully challenged the military — most notably through a series of court cases that have landed much of the top brass in jail. There's not a single four-star general in the Turkish air force, for instance, who has not been charged. Half the country's admirals are in the clink, too, charged with fomenting instability and plotting to overturn the government. Last Friday's resignations were the "culmination of a process," says Omer Taspinar, a professor of international relations at the National Defense University in the U.S. "The arrest of active-duty generals last year was a first in Turkish history," he says. "The fact that you had so many admirals and generals in jail was too much for the top commanders to digest." Given Turkey's past, many may have expected the military to protest — perhaps even to issue another threatening memo. Instead, they remained quiet. "This was a silent revolution," Taspinar says. How Times Have Changed The military's standing with the public has eroded over the years AKP has been in power, notes Cagaptay. The military's approval ratings — which stood at 90 percent back in 2002 — have since dropped to about 60 percent. That's still respectable, but it's not enough to overcome the canny political moves taken by Erdogan, who received a renewed mandate in June with the AKP's third straight victory in parliamentary elections. Outside powers had tolerated the series of coups, largely because of Turkey's strategic importance during the Cold War. But the Cold War is long since over. And, in terms of domestic politics, AKP remains highly popular thanks in large part to the country's strong rate of recent economic growth. "If things are stable and going well, as they have for the last 10 years, I don't think people are interested in seeing a coup and the military stepping in," says Taspinar, who directs the Turkey project at the Brookings Institution. "No one wants a military authoritarian system when the alternative is better." A Changed Outlook The straw that broke the military's back was the current season for promotions. The military wanted high-ranking officers who are sitting in jail, but have not been convicted, to be able to move up. Erdogan was having none of it. Last year, he sat alongside the armed forces chief at the annual meeting deciding on appointments. On Monday, The Associated Press reported, Erdogan sat alone, in a choreographed gesture demonstrating his authority. Despite the symbolism of that moment and the importance of the military resignations, analysts don't expect any major short-term changes in Turkey's foreign posture. The country will still work with other European nations and the United States on issues such as Libya, Iran and Syria, while having strained relations with Israel. But the fact that the AKP has put down the main protector of the firewall between religion and the government has made some outsiders nervous. "If you're a European looking at this, on the one hand you don't want the military overturning a democratically elected government," says Kurt Volker, a former U.S. ambassador to NATO. "On the other hand, we don't want the Islamists to have an undue influence over politics." Growing Regional Influence Turkey has always been a Muslim nation, despite the strictures against the use of Islamic symbols in a political context. No one now expects the imposition of Shariah law or any kind of theocratic rule. But Turkey's national identity could become more openly Islamist. And its sense of its place in the world is likely to shift to some extent away from the West — where it has been trying for more than a decade to gain membership to the European Union — and toward the Arab world. Turkey's transition from military rule to democracy has been viewed as a model for countries such as Egypt during the Arab spring. The fact that it's now clear the military has to take orders from civilians, coupled with the country's gradual shift to a nation with a more openly Islamic identity, will only increase Turkey's influence in its immediate neighborhood, Cagaptay suggests. "This is a real opportunity for a burst of Turkey becoming a more powerful country in the region, through its Islamic identity," he says. Is this good for Turkey and/or an Istanbul bid? This sets off bells in my estimation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob2012 Posted August 4, 2011 Report Share Posted August 4, 2011 Considering the IOC worked with the Chinese authorities, I doubt the Turkish government will ever be deemed too authoritarian or a no-go for them. The fact that Turkey's secular traditions are under strain is indeed a worry but I don't think in the context of an Olympic bid it's a major issue at all. As the article says, it's not as though they're going to implement Shariah law anytime soon. Turkey needs above all to excite the IOC and give them a compelling reason to vote for them. It also needs to decide what it wants. Given that the nation will be hot favourites for Euro 2020, why are they also launching an Olympic bid for that year? I'm sure many IOC members will be looking at this strategy and asking questions. Those, by a long shot, are their biggest issues with regard to their repeated Olympic bids, not the political debates about the direction and make-up of the government, which I'm sure the IOC has little interest in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
emre Posted August 4, 2011 Author Report Share Posted August 4, 2011 Considering the IOC worked with the Chinese authorities, I doubt the Turkish government will ever be deemed too authoritarian or a no-go for them. The fact that Turkey's secular traditions are under strain is indeed a worry but I don't think in the context of an Olympic bid it's a major issue at all. As the article says, it's not as though they're going to implement Shariah law anytime soon. Turkey needs above all to excite the IOC and give them a compelling reason to vote for them. It also needs to decide what it wants. Given that the nation will be hot favourites for Euro 2020, why are they also launching an Olympic bid for that year? I'm sure many IOC members will be looking at this strategy and asking questions. Those, by a long shot, are their biggest issues with regard to their repeated Olympic bids, not the political debates about the direction and make-up of the government, which I'm sure the IOC has little interest in. the Eu parliement is happy with that, make a media speech "democrcy settled stronger than ever in turkey before". some how for me aand the others, its the last castle for tayyip erdoan turn into another putin and it falls too. from now turkey can be more democrat but become like a presidential democracy rather than parliamentary one. on the other hand Military is a very strong unit always top of all others ( laws, government and parliement) before now it collapse and they force to do what they have to do. just be soldiers dont enter the politics. thats a good thing. even akp has an islamic root no one even they want to use islamic rules, if they try, it will start a civil war and they cannot succed. people love erdoğan here ( not me) cause people see him as a strong leader wcharismatic and his voice louder than previous ones, but we all respect Mustafa Kemal more, and can act fiercly if someone try to change the basics of Turkish republic which is " secular democratic social state governed by the rule of law" and this thing is not related with IOC or Istanbuls bid. about 2020 EUFA champ. the time schedules are one after one. after the olympic decision at 2013, the UEFA candidature begins and decide at 2014. so if Istanbul wont get the games, the authorities can apply for 2020 UEFA ( which is absolutly will take place İn turkey if we apply) also there is another race for 2020 people waiting for its decision, Expo 2020, and Izmir is candidate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
emre Posted August 10, 2011 Author Report Share Posted August 10, 2011 president of greek national olympic comittee Spyros Capralos, said that Istanbul is also "their" candidate city for 2020 race. a big support from the other side of the aegean ... Efharisto poli My link Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zekekelso Posted August 10, 2011 Report Share Posted August 10, 2011 >> president of greek national olympic comittee Spyros Capralos, said that Istanbul is also "their" candidate city for 2020 race. Is that a surprise? Forgive me for not being up on Turkish/Greek relations, but I thought you guys didn't like each other and there was still a ton of conflict between the two countries. Or are things better these days? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
emre Posted August 10, 2011 Author Report Share Posted August 10, 2011 >> president of greek national olympic comittee Spyros Capralos, said that Istanbul is also "their" candidate city for 2020 race. Is that a surprise? Forgive me for not being up on Turkish/Greek relations, but I thought you guys didn't like each other and there was still a ton of conflict between the two countries. Or are things better these days? neahh... we dont have anything between us turks and greeks... but political...these days its more better thn previous years. we have the money they in crises we visit their country and they make it easier even we need schengen, they need support and our companies gice them credibility as much as they can.. its not a suprise, our national committee former president RIP sinan erdem really worked hard for athens 2004. and its kind a payback they say at the news. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
olimpik Posted August 11, 2011 Report Share Posted August 11, 2011 some venues to create some excitement BTW all of these venues now can be reached by rail system; metro, light rail or suburban or metrobus Olympic Stadium Champions' League Final - 2005 and olympic park's just gonna be behind Sinan Erdem Sports Hall World Basketball Cahmpionship - FIBA 2010, 2014(women) Abdi İpekçi Arena 2009 European Short Course Swimming Champ 2001 European Basketball Champand many other events including Eurovision 2004 Ataköy Marina(can be expanded for the games) Ataköy Swimming(next to Sinan Erdem Sports Hall) Aslantepe Stadium(opened 1 year ago) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
olimpik Posted August 11, 2011 Report Share Posted August 11, 2011 Bağcılar Sports Hall(finished, planned for Badminton in 2008 plan) CNR Expo Center(planned for IBC and MPC, 10 mins from Ataköy and Olympic Park) Ataköy Beach, may be planned for Beach Volleyball Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
olimpik Posted August 11, 2011 Report Share Posted August 11, 2011 since last bid in Istanbul nearly 100 km new rail system(Marmaray, Kartal-Kadıköy, Olimpiyatköy, Taksim-YEnikapı) has been finished or under construction. New nearly 50 km BRT system's been working for 3 years which mainly connects rail systems to each other. There are now tunnels everywhere in Istanbul and a 3rd bridge is about to be constructed which will also connect Olmypic Park with a new highway to the city. I think IStanbul's chances increased a lot since last bid. Low evaluation about infastracture and transport system will not be a problem this time. All they need is to plan compact games only focusing on Olympic Park, Ataköy Zone and Old City zone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
olimpik Posted August 11, 2011 Report Share Posted August 11, 2011 A well planned Old City Zone venus may increase IStanbul's chances by adding some oriental flavor in it. e.g Golden Horn is great for Rowing and now there are a lot of venues alongside the horn. e.g 5000 seat auditorium may fit for Wrestling events in Haliç Congress Center another hall for fencing in the same venue Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
olimpik Posted August 11, 2011 Report Share Posted August 11, 2011 The circle at the top is OV and Olympic Park, the circle in the very south Ataköy Zone and the other one is Old City Zone. I hope they will just give a compact plan only by using these areas. Airport is also nearby on the left. exiting rail system this is how it will look like in 2020 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baron-pierreIV Posted August 11, 2011 Report Share Posted August 11, 2011 Ataköy Swimming(next to Sinan Erdem Sports Hall) Now, that's the kind of natatorium I like...airy and full of natural light...not the awful one of London. Hey, Istanbul seems to have a good compliment of many venues already in place. Notice I have Istanbul on my signature. I think the finals for 2020 will be between Istanbul and Rome. If I could vote, I'd give it to Istanbul!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sir Rols Posted August 11, 2011 Report Share Posted August 11, 2011 If I could vote, I'd give it to Istanbul!! Me too. That's my early preference, though I still expect Rome to win. Any word if or when Istanbul will be officially in or out? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FYI Posted August 12, 2011 Report Share Posted August 12, 2011 I'm starting to think that if Istanbul comes up with a decent plan this time around, they'll actually give Rome a good run for their money. Looks like Istanbul has been working on infrastructure extensively since their last attempts. And their economy is stable at the moment over the other candidate countries. So this may well turn out to be a very interesting race afterall. Although, Istanbul's main obstacle may be to get a good foundation of support within the IOC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lachie Posted August 12, 2011 Report Share Posted August 12, 2011 I would prefer Istanbul too. Really like the swimming venue. Golden Horn doesn't seem like it would be suitable for rowing. Do you have another venue Olimpik? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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