Turkey officially applies for İzmir’s Expo 2020 bid

Turkey has officially applied for the Aegean city of İzmir to be a candidate to host the Expo 2020.

The application was made by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan who sent a letter to Vicente Gonzales, secretary-general of the Bureau International des Expositions, or BIE, Loscertales, a statement released by the Culture Ministry said Sunday.

Erdoğan’s letter is the first official document highlighting the government’s choice to nominate İzmir for the bid instead of Ankara, which was also seeking the government’s backing. Erdoğan’s Justice and Development Party, or AKP, ended Ankara’s hopes for the bid when it stressed İzmir as its candidate for 2020. Izmir raced against Italy’s Milano for the same bid in 2015 but lost it. The vote for 2020 will take place in 2013.

The Expo 2020 will take place between April 30 and Oct. 31, 2020.

Erdogan, in his letter, assured the BIE that Turkey would fulfill all of its obligations within the agreement signed with BIE and that Turkey had the desire and capacity to organize the Expo 2020.


/Hurriyet Daily News/