ISTANBUL: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday inaugurates Istanbul’s third bridge to span the Bosphorus between Europe and Asia, a key project in his drive to create a lasting historical legacy.
The work -- one of the longest suspensions bridges in the world -- will allow Erdogan to show that his dream of creating a glitzy "new Turkey" with ultra-modern infrastructure is on track despite the July 15 failed coup and a string of militant attacks.
The bridge is named after the 16th century Ottoman Sultan Selim the Grim (Yavuz Sultan Selim in Turkish) who conquered swathes of the Middle East in an extraordinary eight year rule and remains a figure of adulation for modern day Turks. The openings of bridges across the Bosphorus -- the first in 1973 and the second in 1988 -- have been landmark dates in the modern history of Istanbul.
08-26-2016, 04:33 AM
Erdogan to inaugurate Bosphorus bridge
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