Kocaeli, an industrial city, is surrounded with orchards and vegetable gardens. The city, which was known as “Nicomedia” in the Roman era, and its surroundings, are full of historical works remaining from the Ottoman era.

One of the counties of the city, Hereke, is famous for carpet weaving. As for Gebze, located on the northern shores of the Marmara Sea, it has rich historical assets, including the tomb of the famous Carthaginian commander Hannibal.

Sakarya, with its extensive plains and fertile lands for agri-culture, is an industrial center too.

The proposal for İstanbul to become the European Capital of Culture (ECC) was voted in and officially approved by the EU Ministers of Culture who gathered in Brussels on November 13th, 2007. Besides İstanbul, which will present itself with the “The City of Four Ele-ments” motto, other elected cities for “2010 ECC” are Pécz (Hungary) and Essen (Germany).

Turkey so far has registered İstanbul, Safranbolu, Boğazköy, Mount Nemrut, Xanthas-Letoon, Divriği Ulu Mosque and Curing Dormitory and Archeological City of Troy as sites of cultural inheritance, and Pamukkale and Göreme-Cappadocia as areas of both cultural and natural inheritance in the World Inheritance List.

With its historical monuments, museums, palaces, city walls, waterside mansions, beautiful scenery and places of worship, which are the heritage of an 8 thousand year old history, İstanbul is an elegant center of tolerance and displays a synthesis of the heritage of cultures and civilizations.

This great city, which is a Capital of Empires, was founded by the Megaras in 658 B.C. and was known as Byzantium after their com-mander’s name Byzas. İstanbul is the biggest city in Turkey in terms of its popula-tion, trade finances and cultural activities.

With the biggest airport and the largest import/export harbor in the country, İstanbul is center for the national and international sea and airways.

The historical peninsula stretching between the Marmara Sea and the Golden Horn is like an open-air museum of artifacts bearing traces of the Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman em-pires, for each of which it served as capital.


Ciragan Palace Istanbul


Topkapi Palace Istanbul

The Topkapı Palace, which was the political center of the Ot-toman sultans for 400 years and now serves as a museum, attracts all kinds of people from different cultures with its world famous antiquities and sacred relics including the ones that belonged to Mohammad, the Prophet of Islam and to his era.

Another stately palace is the Dolmabahçe Palace, which was built by Sultan Abdülaziz. This Palace is encircled by 56 columns and the central hall is illuminated by a chandelier weighing 4.5 tons. The founder of the Turkish Republic Mustafa Kemal Atatürk passed away in this palace on November 10th, 1938. There are nearly 500 mosques in the city, the most famous of them being the Sultan Ahmet Mosque, with its six mina-rets. Sultan Ahmet Square, including the Mosque and the public fountain, is the main tourist attraction.

The Süleymaniye Mosque, built by Master Architect Sinan, is another im-portant mosque and part of the landscape of İstanbul. The Hagia Sophia Museum, building of which was initiated as a basilica (4th century) in the Emperor Constantine period, is the most magnificent work of architecture remaining from the Byzantine era.


Dolmabahçe Palace and Savarona Yacht - İSTANBUL


İstanbul Archeological Museum


It ranks as the 4th biggest temple, in terms of surface area, after St. Peter’s in Rome, St. Paul’s in London and the Cathedral of Milan. It has a 55 meters high and 31 meters wide dome and is the oldest of these religious buildings.

The Yerebatan Cistern, which was built in the 6th century by the Byzantines to meet the water re-quirements of the city and which contains 336 columns, and the Kariye Museum are among other magnificent historical buildings in the city. The İstanbul archeological museums, the Atatürk Museum, the Sadberk Hanım Museum, the Mosaic Museum, the In-dustry Museum, the Maritime Museum, the Turkish Judaic Museum, the Tower of Leander, the Galata Tower, and the Rumelia and Anatolia fortresses are examples of other mu-seums and monuments in the city.

The 15th century Covered Bazaar is one of the places most visited by tourists; and here jewellery, antiques, carpets, silver and copper souvenirs, leather and suede garments, wood and mother of pearl carvings are sold in nearly 4 thousand shops. All kinds of spices are available in the Mısır Çarşısı (Egyptian Bazaar) built by Hatice Sultan in the 17th century.


Grand Bazaar istanbul

İstanbul is also the center of modern shopping. Besides giant malls like Carousel, Ataköy-Galleria, Akmerkez, Capi-tol, CarrefourSA, Profilo, Kule and the Kule Bazaar, Kanyon, İstinye Park, Ikea and Cevahir, there are many shopping areas, of which the İstiklal, Rumeli and Bağdat avenues are the most distinguished.

İstanbul is also among the significant cultural centers in the world, with various film and music festivals, theater, opera, ballet and concert activities, international symposia, confe-rences, and contests. The “International Culture and Art Festival” organized annually in June and July hosts famous artists from all over the world. İstanbul frequently hosts important international sports acti-vities, too.

Kilyos and Şile are holiday resorts around İstanbul known for their beaches. As for Polonezköy, it is a place where Polish immigrants settled in the 19th century, and is an ideal place of relaxation surrounded by woods.

The Belgrade Forest, a National Park, is recognized as the “Lungs of İstanbul”. In these woods, the Atatürk Arboretum and aqueducts remain-ing from the Ottoman era are also worth visiting. Silivri and Kemer, on the other hand, house expansive golf courses.

This region, which is located in the northwestern corner of Turkey, covers 9.32% of the county’s land with its 72,845 km² surface area. The region, neighboring the Black Sea, the Marmara Sea and the Aegean Sea, links the European and Asian continents with the Bosporus and Dardanelles. The Bozcaada and Gökçeada (İmroz) islands in the Aegean are also parts of this region.

The population of the region, which is constantly taking in migrants, according to the 2008 ABPRS results, has increas-ed to 21,044,783. Of this population, 18,969,841 are resid-ing in urban areas and 2,074,942 in rural areas.

The Marmara Region is the industrial center of Turkey, com-prising the İstanbul-Bursa-İzmit axis. Processed food, tex-tiles, ready-to-wear clothing, cement, paper, petro-chemical products, automobiles and spare parts, metal and electrical goods, railway cars and ships are among the leading indus-trial goods produced in the region.

The region has a distinct privilege from the fact that the shortest land and maritime routes connecting Europe to Asia and the Black Sea to the Mediterranean Sea pass through here, and this has led to development and enrichment of the area. As a region which has hosted many civilizations through the centuries, and which boasts antiquities and scenic wonders, it has become one of the most important culture, arts and tourism centers of the world.