Istanbul Airport Istanbul Airport Istanbul Airport () is an international airport in the Arnavutköy district on the European side of Istanbul, Turkey. The airport was planned as the largest in the world with a 150 million annual passenger capacity in its last planned expansion stage, while remaining upgradable to handle 200 million annual passengers if required in the future. It is the third international airport to be built in Istanbul after Atatürk Airport and Sabiha Gökçen Airport, and is planned to become the main international airport serving Istanbul. Atatürk Airport will be closed down for scheduled passenger flights once the new airport
Accession of Turkey to the European Union European Parliament, equal to Germany's. If Turkey were to join the European Union, Istanbul would become the most populous metropolis in the EU. Cyprus was divided when, on 20 July 1974, Turkey invaded and occupied a third of the island in response to an Athens-engineered coup aimed at annexing Cyprus to Greece. Since then, Turkey has refused to acknowledge the Republic of Cyprus (an EU member since 2004) as the sole authority on the island, and recognizes the self-declared Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus since its establishment in 1983. The Turkish invasion in 1974 and the resulting movement of refugees