Historical Importance of Atatürk Airport

History of the Land where Atatürk Airport was Established:

Yesilkoy has a special place and importance in Turkish aviation history. At the beginning of the 20th century, with the initiatives of Defense Minister Mahmut Şevket Pasha, efforts were made to supply balloons and airplanes to the army and to establish the necessary facilities for these. He wanted the airport to be built on the Anatolian side of Istanbul, but because a suitable place could not be found, the search was directed to the European side. In order to carry out these studies, the Ottoman Empire wanted to direct and manage the aviation activities with the information it received from the military attachés. On 1 June 1911, the "Aviation Commission" of the Air Force was established under the chairmanship of the Chief of Staff of the 2nd Branch of the General Staff, in order to give an official identity to the tasks and organizational activities and to give an identity to these activities. This core organization was considered the foundation of the Air Force, the first official institution of aviation in the history of the Ottoman army, and became the date of institutionalization, organization and foundation of aviation. This date is celebrated today as the "Foundation Day of the Air Force".

Great Leader Mustafa Kemal ATATÜRK at Yesilkoy Airport

For the first time at Yeşilköy airport, the commission formed an aircraft squadron for the armies as an air class air organization, and these companies formed the first military unit of aviation in the world. Also in this period, Süreyya İlmen was tasked with establishing an aircraft station and school in Sefaköy, near Yeşilköy, and this organization constituted the first base and school of the Air Force. Action was taken to establish the Aircraft School (Air School), which was foreseen by Süreyya İlmen and the Aircraft Commission, and an air facility near Yeşilköy. Near the northern border of Yeşilköy Airport, work began in January 1912 for the establishment of the Airplane Station (Air Square) and the Air School. Two hangars and a runway were started to be built and the first important step in aviation history was taken. Between Yeşilköy and Sefaköy, the construction of a flight runway with a width of 700 meters and a length of 1500 meters and two aircraft hangars with a height of 16 meters for the protection of aircraft were completed in May 1912. The first grass-covered airport was built in Istanbul, and it was opened in Yeşilköy in 1912 for military purposes. Yeşilköy Airport, which was established as a military square in 1912, is also an airport where civilian flights are made and became the place where civil air transportation was started for the first time in Turkey in the same year.

The Lands Where Atatürk Airport Was Born, Sefaköy/Yeşilköy-Istanbul

At the beginning of 1912, the Turkish Army had its first pilots and planes, and the first plane was brought to Yeşilköy. Aviation efforts in the Turkish army accelerated, the number of personnel increased, and the aircraft companies established at the beginning of the First World War and the aviators began to perform active continental duties. Later, these hangars and the square were put into service as the first "Air School" in Sefaköy/Yeşilköy on 3 July 1912 with some additions. With the opening of the Air School, the Turkish Army started to train its flight officers in its country.

Yesilkoy Airplane School (Air School)

Yeşilköy Air School was one of the most important stages and had a great impact on the development and strengthening of Turkish military aviation. Apart from providing training to the pilots and mechanics of our land and navy forces, Istanbul was the center of all aviation studies until the occupation of Istanbul and flight trials were carried out in this area. On February 21, 1912, Captain Fesa Evrensev successfully completed his flight training and became the owner of the Turkish Army's No. 1 flight badge. Yusuf Kenan received his flight badge and returned home. Captain Fesa Evrensev had the title of "First Turkish Pilot" and was appointed as a teacher to this school together with Lieutenant Yusuf Kenan.

On April 26, 1912, 2 planes purchased from France in Yeşilköy were delivered to the first teachers of the Air School, Turkish pilots Captain Fesa Evrensev and Lieutenant Yusuf Kenan. Fesa Evrensev made a rehearsal flight in front of the sultan and the public with the plane named "Celaleddin". It has been celebrated as "Pilots Day" on April 26, since 2000, due to the flight of Fesa Evrensev, who was the first Turkish pilot to fly in the Turkish sky, on April 26, 1912, with the first Turkish plane.

Yusuf Kenan and Fesa Evrensev went down in history as the first Turkish aviators to fly with the first Turkish plane. In June 1914, "Yeşilköy Naval Air School" affiliated to the Ministry of the Navy was established next to Yeşilköy Air School to train naval pilots and started training in a place near the lighthouse in Yeşilköy.

During this period, the Turkish Air Force was organized as Air School, Airports, Aircraft Squadrons, Fixed Balloon Squadrons, Anti-Aircraft Artillery Units and Meteorology Stations. However, upon the Ottoman Empire's acceptance of defeat in World War I and the signing of the Armistice of Mudros on 30 October 1918, the country, especially Istanbul, was occupied by the Allied Powers, and a new era has been entered in Turkish military aviation since this date. With the victory of the War of Independence and the signing of the Mudanya Armistice on 11 October 1922, the foreign occupation officially ended. With the Treaty of Lausanne signed on July 24, 1923, the Istanbul Air Branch Directorate was established in Yeşilköy under the Air Force Inspection Board. Its aim was to take over the Yeşilköy Airport and all the stocks in the area from the British invaders. At the end of the 1960s, the Air Academy started to be re-established in Yeşilköy under the name of "Air Academy" and was opened on July 21, 1967 here, where Turkish aviation was born and grew up.

Istanbul-Ankara flights start from Yesilkoy Square:

Yeşilköy Airport has also been a very important place in terms of Civil aviation history and started the Bucharest-Istanbul service from Yeşilköy to Compagnie Franco-Roumaine de Navigation Aerienne (CFRNA) on October 3, 1922. As of 14 September 1924, a 20-year contract was signed with the company, the project to build a new airport was approved, and the area just north of the Sirkeci-Halkalı railway was allocated free of charge. On 17 August 1925, the CFRNA company, under the name of Compagnie Internationele de Navigation Aerienne (CIDNA), completed the construction of two aircraft hangars, an administrative building and supporting underground fuel tanks, repair shops and spare parts warehouses in 1926, and Turkey's first "International Civil Airport". has been created.

The first big steps were taken in the field of civil aviation when the "Turkish Aircraft Society" was established by the order of Mustafa Kemal ATATÜRK in 1925, 16 months after the proclamation of the Republic. Initiatives have been initiated to bring the Military Airfield in Yeşilköy to civil aviation. With the establishment of the Republic, the first step of civil aviation in Istanbul was taken in Yeşilköy, the country's first international square, on August 17, 1925, and it was used for military purposes as the Military Airfield until 1933. Established in 1933, the national airline company was opened to civil flights under the name "Yeşilköy Airport" with the Istanbul-Ankara flight for flights. CIDNA was renamed Air France on 31 December 1933, but the contract was canceled at the beginning of 1937 at its request and its assets were purchased by the Ministry of Public Works for 19,950 lira.

With the opening of Yeşilköy Airport, the Ministry of Public Works decided to turn it into a modern airport in 1938 and a contract was signed with Chicago Civil Aviation in 1944. Construction of an airport for international flights began in Yeşilköy in 1949 and was completed in 1953. On May 23, 1953, the facilities were given to the control of the Ministry of Transport and on August 1, 1953, after the necessary tests and controls, it was opened to international air traffic as Turkey's largest and first international airport.

Yesilkoy Airport's Name is "Ataturk Airport":

When the process from the establishment of Yeşilköy Airport to the present is examined, Mustafa Kemal ATATÜRK has led and guided the Turkish military and civil aviation to reach world standards and provide development, and has provided all kinds of support and contribution. He is the leader of world peace, international understanding, friendship and cooperation, respects human rights, and does not discriminate between people by color, religion, language and race. He created a modern, contemporary and civilized state by making extraordinary revolutions, set an example for the oppressed world states as a revolutionary leader, and was accepted as the leader and exemplary leader of the 21st century fighting against colonial and expansionist states. With these thoughts, on July 29, 1985, the liberation of modern Turkey and its founder, the name of the Great Leader Gazi Mustafa Kemal ATATÜRK, it became “ATATÜRK Airport”.

Ground handling, air traffic services and aviation communications management of ATATÜRK Airport was taken over by the State Airports Authority (DHMI) on February 26, 1956. With a total area of ​​11 million 650 thousand m², Atatürk Airport has been established as the largest airport in Turkey in terms of total building area, with 63 thousand 165 m² domestic and 282 thousand 770 m² international terminals. It also has a 7,260 square meter VIP and CIP terminal. Atatürk Airport has CAT III qualifications according to the classification made by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), and has reached a level that allows aircraft to take off and land even when the meteorological conditions are bad.

ATATÜRK Airport was selected as Europe's 4th busiest airport and the world's 10th best airport in 2014, and has hosted millions of passengers and flights. According to 2015 data, it was the busiest airport in Turkey and the 11th busiest in the world with passenger traffic. The airport is among the most important transit passenger airports in Europe with an average of 1,100 daily flights. The number of airplanes landing and taking off from the airport broke the all-time record with 1453 (an airplane landing or taking off every 59.46 seconds) on September 4, 2016. In 2015, it hosted 61 million 332 thousand 124 passengers, 464 thousand 774 aircraft and 790 thousand 744 tons of cargo. All scheduled flights from ATATÜRK Airport, which has such a capacity and features, were transferred to Istanbul Airport on April 7, 2019, after 4 years of construction, but regular flights started on April 19, 2019 and opened on October 29, 2018.

Prior to the closure of ATATÜRK Airport, it ranked 17th in the world's airports ranking in 2017 with 64.1 million passengers per year, making it one of the largest airports in the world. Due to the closure of Atatürk Airport, economic losses have occurred in the surrounding hotels and commercial uses. Great losses occurred due to the closure of service and maintenance services. Atatürk airport will be in a very important position in terms of providing logistic support after a possible earthquake in the region, which is also in the earthquake zone. In order to be used as a Field Hospital under pandemic conditions, the two runways of the airport were broken and the cost was 2 billion TL (known as Yeşilköy Hospital). Dr. Murat Dilmener Hospital was built. A tender was held on April 29 to turn a part of it into a National Garden.

Conclusion:

Yesilkoy ATATÜRK Airport is the history of Turkish aviation that connects our country to the world. It constitutes an important place for the salvation and establishment of the Turkish nation. It is the Civil International Airport where Turkish Aviation was first established and the first flight of the Republic of Turkey, which declared its independence with the victory of the National Struggle, was made. Yeşilköy Airport bid farewell to the lands where Turkish aviation was established and Civil aviation was started. The airport, which has been serving the military aviation for a century and civil aviation for more than 80 years under the name of "Yeşilköy Airport", has had a very important place in the history of Turkish aviation.

The "ATATÜRK Airport", which bears the name of the founder of the Republic of Turkey and the savior of the Turkish nation, and which is of great importance in terms of Turkish Military and Civil Aviation History, will be appropriate in terms of keeping the history alive in the most beautiful and effective way. Why was ATATÜRK Airport (formerly Yeşilköy Airport), where civil aviation started in Turkey and which formed the basis of the War of Independence, closed? Considering the risk of collision with migratory birds, as well as the meteorological risk of ATATÜRK Airport such as tornadoes, heavy rains and storms caused by climate change, it is considered very important that the airport be open when risk analysis is made in terms of fog and wind. When the meteorological situation of Istanbul is examined in detail, when the records of the past periods are examined in detail, when the Black Sea coastline is covered with a dense layer of fog in which the visibility of the Black Sea coastline decreases to zero; It can be determined that Florya and Yeşilköy regions can be open, on which days the north is foggy and the south is clear. In this context, air transport may cause problems in terms of physical environmental conditions of landing and take-offs on the runway. The fact that ATATÜRK Airport, which is one of the first airports in the world, which is inherited from the Ottoman Empire and has historical and national value, is closed and the National Garden is built, should be reconsidered considering its historical background and strategic importance.