Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday opened a major new airport on the Black Sea, touted as the first in Europe built on a man-made island, the latest major infrastructure project to be unveiled ahead of June 7 elections. Erdogan attended the ceremonial opening of Ordu-Giresun airport alongside Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu in a clear bid to boost the ruling party in the looming legislative polls.
The president, elected head of state last year after over a decade as premier, should in theory be neutral in the elections but appears to be playing an increasingly active role on behalf of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP). "When we came to office (in 2002), there were 26 airports. Now there are 54. People did not even know what a high-speed train was," Erdogan said in a televised speech to thousands on the tarmac. The official Anatolia news agency said the new airport was the first such island facility outside Asia. Around 35 million tons of rocks were used to fill a 1.8-million-square metre area of sea to build the airport, it added. The airport was originally named Or-Gi after the first two letters of the Black Sea Ordu and Giresun province which it serves.