Traveller dergisinden İstanbul Havaalanı ile ilgili yazıdan bir bölüm...
Istanbul | Recep Tayyip Erdogan has held plenty of grand opening ceremonies in his 15 years at Turkey's helm. On Monday he unveiled one of his prized jewels - Istanbul New Airport - a megaproject that has been dogged by concerns about labour rights, environmental issues and Turkey's weakening economy.
Erdogan is opening what he claims will eventually become the world's largest air transport hub on the 95th anniversary of Turkey's establishment as a republic. It's a symbolic launch, as only limited flights will begin days later and a full move won't take place until the end of the year.
Tens of thousands of workers have been scrambling to finish the airport to meet Erdogan's October 29 deadline. Protests in September over poor working conditions and dozens of construction deaths have highlighted the human cost of the project.
'The airport has become a cemetery'
Nihat Demir, head of a construction workers' union, said the rush to meet Erdogan's deadline has been a major cause of the accidents and deaths at the site that employs 36,000 people.
"The airport has become a cemetery," he said, describing the pressure to finish as relentless and blaming long working hours for leading to "carelessness, accidents and deaths."
The Dev-Yapi-Is union has identified 37 worker deaths at the site and claimed more than 100 dead remain unidentified.
Turkey's Ministry of Labour has denied media reports about hundreds of airport construction deaths, saying in February that 27 workers had died at the site due to "health problems and traffic accidents". It has not commented since then.
Airport workers in September began a strike against poor working conditions, including unpaid salaries, bedbugs, unsafe food and inadequate transport to the site. Security forces rounded up hundreds of workers and formally arrested nearly 30, among them union leaders. The company said it was working to improve conditions.
Twinkle twinkle little star,
Soon you won't be twinkling anymore.....
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