Istanbul Atatürk Airport airport was originally named "Yeşilköy Airport". In the 1980s, it was renamed "Istanbul Atatürk International Airport" in honour of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder and first president of the Republic of Turkey. It served more than 60 million passengers in 2015, making it the 11th-busiest airport in the world in terms of total passenger traffic and the 10th-busiest in the world in terms of international passenger traffic. As of 2017, it is Europe's 5th-busiest airport after London Heathrow, Paris Charles de Gaulle, Frankfurt Airport and Amsterdam Schiphol Airport, having fallen from third place after a decline in passengers due to
History of the Republic of Turkey History of the Republic of Turkey The Republic of Turkey was created after the overthrow of Sultan Mehmet VI Vahdettin by the new Republican Parliament in 1922. This new regime delivered the "coup de grâce" to the Ottoman state which had been practically wiped away from the world stage following the First World War. Aside from the Ottoman state's defeat during the First World War, there are several other factors that contributed to the emergence of the new Turkish state. These include the ethno-religious conflicts in Anatolia, which led to the destruction of the Christian population in the country, effectively