Istanbul-Atatürk, International airport in Bakırköy, Turkey
Istanbul-Atatürk is an airport in the Bakırköy district on the European side of Istanbul, Turkey. The site features multiple runways, terminal buildings, and cargo facilities spread across a large area near the Sea of Marmara coast.
The site began in 1912 as Yeşilköy with two hangars for the Ottoman military forces and grew over the decades into an international hub. During the 1980s the facility received its current name honoring the first president of the Turkish republic, while commercial passenger traffic ended in 2019.
The former airport bore the name of the republic's founder and served for decades as a gateway between two continents. Its location in the Bakırköy district made it part of daily life for residents who could watch aircraft arriving and departing over the Sea of Marmara.
The former passenger site has been closed to the public since 2019, while cargo operations and business aviation continue to use the facility. Visitors can view the area from outside, particularly from surrounding streets in Bakırköy where the scale of the complex becomes visible.
The Turkish government plans to convert sections of the former airport into a public park, with one of the original runways set to be incorporated into the park design. This transition from aviation infrastructure to green public space would open the site to Istanbul residents in an entirely new way.
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