http://www.turkishdailynews.com.tr/article.php?enewsid=92170

involved the clearance of older neighborhoods; the creation of an inner-city freeway required the demolition of large sections of Beyoglu; the new highway along the Bosphorus cut off the older villages from their natural links with the water. And in the process of modernization and improvement, some of the social and economic inequalities have become more visibly entrenched in the urban landscape. Thus the deluxe hotels and conference centers and the luxury villas along the Bosphorus stand in sharp contrast to the generic blocks of apartments and the temporary housing and unpaved roads of the newer gecekondus.
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A new project to raise earthquake awareness

Kandilli Observatory initiates a project to inform people about earthquakes with a mascot called Sismail, while there are no serious measures to strengthen or renew weak buildings in Istanbul, which awaits a big disaster in the near future

Living under the perpetual shadow of an anticipated earthquake that will lay waste to Europe's biggest metropolis Istanbul, a new project to raise awareness in society on earthquakes will launch in October – eight years after the great Marmara earthquake that killed more than 17,00 people.

Sensitivity to Earthquake Project, organized by Boğaziçi University Kandilli Observatory and Earthquake Research Institute aims to lessen possible loss of life and property by “making people realize the danger and take necessary measures,” said project coordinator Professor Niyazi Türkelli, at a media presentation introducing the project. The project will try to contribute to “creating a culture of being protected from earthquakes,” as well.

Supported by the metropolitan municipality and the governor's office, the project will be the first to directly address people and inform them, in a country where 40 percent of its provinces face a very high earthquake risk. Earthquake training trucks that have been prepared for the project will first cover Istanbul as the pilot region and then move to other regions. A Web site with comprehensive information about earthquakes will be launched, while activities like short film competitions and theater plays will be held in cooperation with schools. The mascot of the project, Sismail – whose name is the combination of the word seismology and a male Turkish name İsmail, will also help in attracting the interest of children.

Remaking Istanbul - infrastructure - the controversies over the relative merits of construction, restoration, conservation and development go on, running as deep as ever
old article from the year 1990
http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/199004/remaking.istanbul.htm



Rapid growth has imposed enormous pressures on the city’s services and infrastructure. Long-range planning has been difficult as politicians and planners have tried to cope with the immediate needs of a rapidly growing population. Traffic congestion, lack of services, loss of amenities and open space, water shortages, and air pollution are all too familiar “costs” of rapid urbanization to Istanbulis. Since the 1980s there has been massive investment in an effort to catch up with growth by expanding and modernizing the city’s infrastructure. The goal has been not just to meet the basic needs of the population but, as in the nineteenth century, to revitalize the city, and in the process to re-establish the city as a great international center for trade and commerce. Once again, there has been a strong focus on the physical infrastructure and appearance of the city: new bridges, motorways and inner-city arterials to improve the flow of traffic; a modern wastewater system to clean up the waters of the Golden Horn; a natural gas network to reduce the use of more polluting coal and lignite; and the removal of industries and dilapidated warehouses from along the shoreline of the Golden Horn to make way for parks and open space. These efforts to renovate the urban fabric have not been without controversy. The “greening” of the Golden Horn involved the clearance of older neighborhoods; the creation of an inner-city freeway required the demolition of large sections of Beyoglu; the new highway along the Bosphorus cut off the older villages from their natural links with the water. And in the process of modernization and improvement, some of the social and economic inequalities have become more visibly entrenched in the urban landscape. Thus the deluxe hotels and conference centers and the luxury villas along the Bosphorus stand in sharp contrast to the generic blocks of apartments and the temporary housing and unpaved roads of the newer gecekondus

Da Vinci designed the bridge as part of a civil engineering project for Sultan Bajazet II of Constantinople (Istanbul.) The bridge was to span the Golden Horn, an inlet at the mouth of the Bosphorus River in what is now Turkey.
The Bridge was never built.
http://www.vebjorn-sand.com/thebridge.htm

U.N. ice bridge is reminder of melting Antarctica
U.N.’s Ban says global warming is an emergency

An ice bridge made of frozen Antarctic water erected at U.N. headquarters on Monday is expected to melt within a week to dramatize the dangers of melting glaciers.

Norwegian artist Vebjorn Sand brought the fresh water to New York to fashion a temporary bridge based on a Leonardo da Vinci design. It replicates another span he built on a glacier in Antarctica a year ago which he hopes will never melt.

"Our future lays underneath that ice glacier. So to erect it on that glacier, and that part of Antarctica, (it) must never melt," Sand said outside U.N. headquarters.

"The one outside the United Nations is intended to melt to show that Antarctica is melting," he said, highlighting that 70 percent of the earth's fresh water is held in Antarctic ice.

The bridge's elegant arc, based on da Vinci's 1502 "Golden Horn" design, is roughly 30 feet long and anchors an exhibition highlighting the "fragile beauty" of polar regions.

The bridge was unveiled two days after nearly 200 nations agreed at U.N.-led talks in Bali to launch negotiations on a new pact to fight global warming.

In May, satellite data analyzed by NASA showed vast areas of Antarctic snow and ice, roughly the size of California, melted in 2005 and then re-froze, the most significant thawing in 30 years.

Some experts believe the thaw of Antarctic ice is outpacing predictions by the U.N. climate panel and could in the worst case drive up world sea levels by 6 feet by 2100.

Akin, what do you mean by your statement they don't "belong" there. What about families that have been there for several generations?

women, also there are schools which was named by her name in Kastamonu. She made lots of altruism in Independence war and she carried ammunition to the war area with "kağnı" a vehicle pulled by oxes and when she was carrying ammunition from İnebolu to war area through mountains in winter with her little baby, she died because of cold and became a martyr.

Is there anyone left in Istanbul who doesn't think we need a third bridge over the Bosphorus? Transportation Minister Binali Yildirim has said that people who are calling for a third bridge not to be built over the Bosphorus are treating Istanbul unfairly. But from his statements, it is clear that Yildirim has not actually read of the great volume of debate on this matter. He seems to think that objections to the plans for another bridge are actually based on the idea of a third bridge itself. But no, that's not it. In fact, everyone knows that two bridges crossing the Bosphorus are not enough for as enormous of a city as Istanbul actually is.
http://www.hurriyet.com.tr/english/7725948.asp?gid=74&sz=74470

A call made by President Abdullah Gul for assistance to be sent to Turkey's poorer eastern and southeastern regions during the recently passed Kurban Bayram festival received wide response, with thousands of donated animals bought for sacrifice by a variety of Turkish foundations.
http://www.hurriyet.com.tr/english/7915962.asp?gid=74&sz=11780

Two people were lightly injured when a small device exploded in Turkey's largest city Istanbul on Tuesday, CNN Turk television said, quoting Dogan News Agency.


The percussion bomb -- which makes a very loud noise but contains only a light amount of explosives -- went off in a rubbish bin on the outskirts of the city, CNN Turk said.

The official Web site of renowned pianist Fazıl Say has been closed down due to a flood of abusive messages following the controversial interview with him published in a German newspaper.

Say reportedly said in an interview with the German Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper that Islamists have gained power in Turkey and that he might leave the country. His statements created heated debate in the country last week.

Many messages carrying insults have reached Say's Web site www.fazilsay.net, which featured his biography, works, albums and concert schedule.

Although Say's Web site has been closed down due to the offensive nature of the messages he has been receiving since the interview, the foreign company which prepares Say's Web site said that works are continuing to eliminate the technical problems in the site and that it could be active again early this week.

Meanwhile the interactive wall on the artist's facebook page where the artist met his admirers was also closed down because of similar messages.

The wall, which became active yesterday for a short time, featured Say's messages: “Allowing people to live; thinking about humanity and world; thinking about the homeland; trying to understand and not to get angry; being on the side of goodness and art.”
http://www.turkishdailynews.com.tr/article.php?enewsid=92020