New airport to run rings around veteran facility
ISTANBUL
The government plans to build a third airport in Istanbul as the Atatürk Airport is hardly meeting increasing demand. DHA photo
Several media reports have recently speculated about the fate of Atatürk Airport as the government continues with preparations for the tender of the third airport to be built in the country’s most populous city, in an ambitious push to make Istanbul a regional aviation hub.“We do not act on speculations. We know what we will do,” Transport Minister Binali Yıldırım was quoted as saying Nov. 9 by Anatolia news agency in the northern province of Çankırı. “We will build a new airport with very large capacity in Istanbul, while Atatürk Airport will continue serving on a smaller scale,” he said.
Yıldırım was in Çankırı to attend a groundbreaking ceremony for the construction of the 5.5-kilometer long Ilgaz Tunnel, which will connect Çankırı and Kastamonu provinces. The construction is estimated to cost 275 million Turkish Liras, according to Doğan news agency.
Istanbul’s third airport will likely be built in the Terkos Lake area, Mayor Kadir Topbaş said late last month. Although the exact location is yet to be disclosed, land and house prices in and around the region have been climbing substantially since the announcement, according to a report in daily Hürriyet.
A number of experts have voiced concerns over future aviation security issues, claiming that there will be excessive air traffic over Istanbul when the third airport is in full service. Istanbul currently has two airports: Atatürk Airport on the European side of the city and Sabiha Gökçen Airport on the Asian side.
Ministry to handle cyber security
Turkish Transport Minister Binali Yıldırım has said Turkey will reveal its National Cyber Security Strategy Document in December.
All the authority regarding cyber security will be assigned to the ministry, a development security forces and the intelligence service object to, according to a Nov. 9 report by daily Bugün. Some 350 public institutions are vulnerable to cyber attacks, Bugün also said.
“No country in the world can stand up 100 percent to cyber attacks,” Yıldırım said Nov. 9 in Çankırı, adding that his ministry was assigned with the task of cyber security. “We have started work on the coordination of our ministry regarding all types of measures toward cyber security cooperating with all the related institutions and ministries,” he said.