Turkish official feels Olympic success can build bridges

Hasan Arat is frontman for Turkey's 5th bid Istanbul winning the right to host the 2020 Olympic Games would help bridge the gap between different cultures and religions, the bid's chief executive Hasan Arat told AFP .
Arat, a former top level basketball player turned successful businessman, is the frontman for what is Istanbul's strongest bid yet of the five times they have tried to host the quadrennial sporting extravaganza.
Turkey is a fiercely secular state, despite being a majority Muslim country.
Arat said the International Olympic Committee (IOC) members would be making an historic choice if they voted for Istanbul ahead of Madrid - second to Rio de Janeiro for the 2016 Games - and Tokyo, the only one of the three to have previously hosted the Games in 1964, on September 7 in Buenos Aires.
"Istanbul 2020 would be the first Olympics in the region," Arat told AFP by telephone from Istanbul.
"It would be a bridge to excellence. A bridge to a new culture.
"A bridge to an historic impact. It will unify the Olympic movement by bridging together different cultures, religions and generations. Istanbul is already the fifth most visited city in the world."
A more physical version of a bridge was also at the forefront of Arat's belief that Istanbul could prevail: a third bridge along with two tunnels would alleviate some of the traffic problems that weigh heavily on IOC members' minds when it comes to voting.
Those construction projects along with a recently-proposed third airport have also reinforced the impression that the Turkish Government led by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is fully behind the bid.
"The airport will be new (and at 22.15bn euros the biggest ever tender in Turkey). We will have three airports," said Arat.
"We didn't mention the third bridge and third airport in the bid book as they were not tendered at that time.
"The Eurasia tunnel will be opened on October 29. Trials will begin on August 1. It is good for the bid as after August 1 there will be a train passing from Asia to Europe, for the first time, the silk road from London to Beijing by train.
"The first tunnel, the Marmaray tunnel, is only for trains. The second tunnel, the Eurasia tunnel, will be a road tunnel for cars. The third bridge will be for trains and cars and construction has already begun."
Arat, who says he has had to turn away private businesses who wished to invest in the bid because they are already so well supported, said Erdogan, a former professional footballer, was giving them invaluable help also on the diplomatic front.
"That is one of the strongest parts of the bid. The prime minister, the president and the government are all united in support for the bid. They are giving the bid big support," he said.
"The Prime Minister is mentioning the bid all the time as he was a former mayor of Istanbul."
Arat, who says the vibrant economy is also aiding the bid with credit agency Moody's recently raising their credit rating to investment grade, said IOC members could also be assured that athletes would compete in total safety and security.
His remarks come in the wake of twin car bombings which killed 51 people in the border town of Reyhanli in the southeastern Hatay province on May 11, in an incident that raised fears of the growing regional impact of the Syrian conflict.
"The Olympic family can be assured of a safe and secure games in an iconic setting," he said.
"It (terrorism) is a global issue which affects major cities throughout the world. If you look at the history of major cities throughout the world, we have to be very careful when we are competing in a high level.
"The attack on the border was an isolated attack connected to the Syrian borders. We have helped the refugees spending 1 billion dollars building hospitals and schools. But it is not only a problem of Turkey."
Indeed Arat said immense steps had been taken in other areas of conflict within Turkey such as the peace negotiations between the Turkish government and jailed Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan.
Ocalan made a landmark appeal in March for a ceasefire after 29 years of armed conflict with the Turkish state over self rule in the Kurdish-majority southeast which has cost around 45,000 lives.
Kurdish rebels announced on April 25 that they would begin withdrawing on May 8 to bases in Iraq.
"We have peace and ceasefire in Turkey. Security is of upmost importance to bid. Turkey has an excellent safety record in sports events," said Arat.