Page 19 - bne_newspaper_November_16_2018

Opinion
November 16, 2018 www.intellinews.com I Page 19
My good sir, what terrors lurk in dreams of Erdogan’s “largest” airport...
Akin Nazli in Belgrade
When it comes to the post-truth age, size obviously does matter for the political big shots. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan chose the Proclamation Day of Ataturk’s Republic for the opening of “the world’s largest airport” while the year was just a few days old when US President Donald Trump informed North Korean leader Kim Jong-un via a late-night tweet that his nuclear button was “much bigger and more powerful”.
But the size concerns of our rulers were not actually born in the post-truth times, they are thought to be as old as civilisation itself. Greek historian Herodotus claims the Pharaoh Khufu used thousands of slaves to build the Great Pyramid of Giza which was the world’s “tallest” man-made structure for more than 3,800 years until Lincoln Cathedral was crowned in its final form in 14th-century England.
Herodotus, obviously jealous of the glory of Giza and definitely unaware of the shamefulness of using male-dominant rhetoric, also claims the cruel Khu- fu prostituted his own daughter when he ran “short” of money during the construction of the pyramid, but the Westcar Papyrus describes the pharaoh as good-natured and amiable to his inferiors.
Centuries later, Turkish rulers also became infected by contagious matters of size following the traumatic loss of what was once “the largest” empire in the world. The early 17th-century construction of one of the world’s “largest” mosques, Sultan Ahmed Mosque, or the Blue Mosque as it is popularly known, coincided with the stagnation period of the Ottoman Empire.
Right on time. President Erdogan at the wheel leading a convoy of airport buggies on inauguration day.
Unlike his grandfathers, Sultan Ahmed I turned to treasury funds for his projects because he was unable to gather any spoils from victories as they did.
Size to impress
Size concerns have in fact been systematically injected into the minds of every single Turk since The Law on the Unification of Education came into force in 1924. In the intervening years, Turkish voters have always been ready to welcome any “sizeable” project to particularly impress the hated-as-much-as-beloved West, as Grigory Potemkin did for his dear Catherine II.
“The airport, one of the most important legacies of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has a controversial history full of ups and downs riddled with fights and attempts at preventing it. Political obstacles were put in place to prevent its construction. Attempts were made to prevent it citing environmental con- ditions. Since it will also change the world's flight traffic, it disturbed countries with major airports
in the West,” Nagehan Alci wrote in her November 1 column entitled “The significance of Istanbul Airport, the largest in the world” for the Daily Sabah, adding: “The airport is located on a very strategic spot. It has easy access to many parts of Europe. As of this week, two runways will open, and this will be increased to five when the airport is completed.”
Though there is controversy in the news over whether five or six runways will eventually be built, and even as to whether one or two of them are actually available already, Alci at least agrees the project has yet to be completed.