When I was in Istanbul, I tried to watch and understand the news on television, which wasn't that easy (understatement ). Until now I thought I had understood that Istanbul was chosen to be the European City of Culture in 2010. Now I realized that it was nominated for that title. Small misunderstanding
Here's an article about Istanbul 2010.

Anyway, I booked a hotel for the whole of 2010 already

I think the other two cities in contention are Essen (Germany) and Pecs (Hungary)