Istanbul officially announced its bid for the 2012 Summer Olympic Games at a meeting of government and city officials.
Togay Bayatli, head of Turkey’s National Olympic Committee said, “Istanbul bidding committee has officially decided to be a candidate for the 2012 Olympic Games. We think Istanbul has the best facilities at the moment among the bidding cities”.
Although Istanbul unsuccessfully bid for the 200, 2004 and 2008 Games, Turkish officials say the city is in better shape this time around.
According to the Associated Press (AP) Turkey has allocated 584 hectares of land for an Olympic village and is constructing an indoor athletic arena that seats 22,000 people, which officials say could be ready as early as next year.
An 80,000-seat stadium for the 2008 Games bid was finished last year, but has been sitting empty because of a shortage of roads.
Officials from the Turkish Olympic Committee and Istanbul soccer club Galatasaray signed an agreement Friday for the team to rent the stadium for at least two seasons, while Galatasaray, whose own stadium is in bad shape, builds a new venue.
Faruk Keskinel, chief engineer of the Istanbul bidding committee said, “the contract (with Galatasaray) might be extended. The main goal is to make the stadium immediately operational”.
Officials pledged that the stadium will be fully operational for matches this fall. Already workers were building a new lighting system around the stadium as well as roads, walking paths, parking facilities and a new score board.
According to AP, Istanbul’s bid faces key obstacles – concerns about finances, uncertainties about accommodations, and daunting traffic.
Yalcin Aksoy, who directed previous bids said, “we have sufficient revenues and have total support from the government”, adding Turkey has already spent more than $200 million over the past 11 years for the Games.
The International Olympic Committee will select the 2012 host city in July 2005.
