Istanbul is part of Europe

Istanbul is European Capital of Culture 2010 along with the city of Essen in Germany's Ruhr area and Pécs. Writing for the daily Le Monde the Turkish Paris-based author Nedim Gürsel takes this as an opportunity to pay homage to his native city: "Istanbul is European Capital of Culture 2010. This may sound ... paradoxical for the capital of the Ottoman sultans and also the city of Pierre Loti, Istanbul's precentor. At the end of the 19th century Istanbul inspired so many European dreams of the Gateway to the Orient, or the 'Great Gateway', as it was called back then, that today it is difficult to imagine this city beyond the myth. Yet this megalopolis with some 15 million inhabitants, which sits between two continents and connects the two sides of the Bosphorus with each other and is constantly spreading and developing, has claimed its place among Europe's cities. ... I have visited almost every European capital and cannot imagine the future of a Europe that leaves Istanbul outside its borders."

» full article (external link, French)
More from the press review on the subject » Cultural Policy, » Turkey