Uploaded February 2017 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Turkey is spending $400+ billion on modernization projects to try and become one of the world's 10 largest economies in the coming decades.
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Video editing and effects by Robin West
Researched, written, narrated and produced by Bryce Plank
Music by Alex Gopher:
soundcloud.com/alexgopher
youtube.com/user/go4musicchannel
http://www.go4music.fr/
All images and video credited and used under the protection of Fair Use in U.S. Copyright Law section 107.
Script:
These are the most ambitious megaprojects in development around the world.
No other country, with the exception of China and perhaps India, is undergoing a bigger building boom than Turkey. The Turkish government is overseeing a $400 billion spending spree on infrastructure that it hopes will lay the groundwork for a rapid economic rise. The impressive list of projects includes:
The $49 billion Istanbul New Airport that’s about half complete. It’ll replace the 93 year old Ataturk Airport and, with a passenger capacity of 150 million a year, it will be one of the planet’s busiest. Istanbul’s advantageous geographical location also helps.
“Istanbul, as a hub, is definitely much better location than Doha and Dubai, or Abu Dhabi, so we have these certain advantages compared to other countries.”
The $5 Billion Istanbul Finance Center will centralize Turkish investment banking, much like New York City’s Wall Street does for the United States.
A 48 km canal is being built alongside the Bosphorous strait that divides not only the city of Istanbul, but the continents of Europe and Asia. At a cost of $10 billion, even Turkey’s President calls it a “crazy project.”
Then there’s the $45 billion high speed rail system that at 10,000 km will be the longest in Europe and the second-longest in the world behind China.
The $6.5 billion Istanbul-Izmir Motorway Project is a six-lane highway that will connect the eastern edge of Istanbul to the Izmir province on the Aegean coast.
Turkey will become a regional energy hub thanks to a $10 billion natural gas pipeline that will connect Azerbaijan’s production facilities with consumers in Europe.
Adding to its energy portfolio will be a $5.5 billion refinery on its west coast that, when finished, will be the largest in the country.
Turkey is also beefing up its armed forces, spending $7 billion to cluster its defense and aerospace industries so it can increase production and exports to the international market.
It has also committed more than $1 billion to develop an independent Turkish space program with the goal of launching 20 satellites into orbit by 2020.
All of these projects come on the heels of the completion in 2016 of both the Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge and the Eurasia Tunnel, two Megaprojects passing over and under the Bosphorus strait.
But the country’s main project is much more practical. At a cost of more than $200 billion, Turkey will demolish and reconstruct seven million buildings throughout the country. Why? Because the majority of structures do not meet basic safety standards in a region prone to devastating earthquakes. Government edicts state that the need to implement the urban renewal plan overrules all existing laws that would’ve prevented people’s houses and apartment buildings from being torn down.
The reasons for the MegaProject boom are complicated. Yes, Turkey needs to modernize, and the quickest way to do it is for the government to have a strong hand in guiding the nation toward prosperity. But it’s also a blatant attempt by the Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan - in power since 2003 - to maintain control over the country by promising economic success.
Not only is Erdoğan raising legitimate questions about corruption, his strongman approach is trampling the rights of individuals and local municipalities. On top of that his projections are unrealistically optimistic. Erdoğan says the country can become a top 10 world economy by 2023--which happens to be the 100th anniversary of the modern Turkish republic, and would mark 20-years of his rule. A simple look at where Turkey currently sits on the list of countries ranked by their GDP reveals that it’s economy would have to more than double in less than 6 years, while the economies of Canada and South Korea completely stagnate. That’s simply not going to happen.
This high-stakes game was laid bare a couple months ago when Erdoğan narrowly escaped succumbing to a coup that would have seen the country descend into violent internal conflict and even civil war. Sharing its southern border with Syria and Iraq is only adding to the country’s instability.
Turkey is spending $400+ billion on modernization projects to try and become one of the world's 10 largest economies in the coming decades.
FB for daily news: facebook.com/thedailyconversation
twitter.com/thedailyconvo
Subscribe to TDC:
youtube.com/TheDailyConversation
Video editing and effects by Robin West
Researched, written, narrated and produced by Bryce Plank
Music by Alex Gopher:
soundcloud.com/alexgopher
youtube.com/user/go4musicchannel
http://www.go4music.fr/
All images and video credited and used under the protection of Fair Use in U.S. Copyright Law section 107.
Script:
These are the most ambitious megaprojects in development around the world.
No other country, with the exception of China and perhaps India, is undergoing a bigger building boom than Turkey. The Turkish government is overseeing a $400 billion spending spree on infrastructure that it hopes will lay the groundwork for a rapid economic rise. The impressive list of projects includes:
The $49 billion Istanbul New Airport that’s about half complete. It’ll replace the 93 year old Ataturk Airport and, with a passenger capacity of 150 million a year, it will be one of the planet’s busiest. Istanbul’s advantageous geographical location also helps.
“Istanbul, as a hub, is definitely much better location than Doha and Dubai, or Abu Dhabi, so we have these certain advantages compared to other countries.”
The $5 Billion Istanbul Finance Center will centralize Turkish investment banking, much like New York City’s Wall Street does for the United States.
A 48 km canal is being built alongside the Bosphorous strait that divides not only the city of Istanbul, but the continents of Europe and Asia. At a cost of $10 billion, even Turkey’s President calls it a “crazy project.”
Then there’s the $45 billion high speed rail system that at 10,000 km will be the longest in Europe and the second-longest in the world behind China.
The $6.5 billion Istanbul-Izmir Motorway Project is a six-lane highway that will connect the eastern edge of Istanbul to the Izmir province on the Aegean coast.
Turkey will become a regional energy hub thanks to a $10 billion natural gas pipeline that will connect Azerbaijan’s production facilities with consumers in Europe.
Adding to its energy portfolio will be a $5.5 billion refinery on its west coast that, when finished, will be the largest in the country.
Turkey is also beefing up its armed forces, spending $7 billion to cluster its defense and aerospace industries so it can increase production and exports to the international market.
It has also committed more than $1 billion to develop an independent Turkish space program with the goal of launching 20 satellites into orbit by 2020.
All of these projects come on the heels of the completion in 2016 of both the Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge and the Eurasia Tunnel, two Megaprojects passing over and under the Bosphorus strait.
But the country’s main project is much more practical. At a cost of more than $200 billion, Turkey will demolish and reconstruct seven million buildings throughout the country. Why? Because the majority of structures do not meet basic safety standards in a region prone to devastating earthquakes. Government edicts state that the need to implement the urban renewal plan overrules all existing laws that would’ve prevented people’s houses and apartment buildings from being torn down.
The reasons for the MegaProject boom are complicated. Yes, Turkey needs to modernize, and the quickest way to do it is for the government to have a strong hand in guiding the nation toward prosperity. But it’s also a blatant attempt by the Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan - in power since 2003 - to maintain control over the country by promising economic success.
Not only is Erdoğan raising legitimate questions about corruption, his strongman approach is trampling the rights of individuals and local municipalities. On top of that his projections are unrealistically optimistic. Erdoğan says the country can become a top 10 world economy by 2023--which happens to be the 100th anniversary of the modern Turkish republic, and would mark 20-years of his rule. A simple look at where Turkey currently sits on the list of countries ranked by their GDP reveals that it’s economy would have to more than double in less than 6 years, while the economies of Canada and South Korea completely stagnate. That’s simply not going to happen.
This high-stakes game was laid bare a couple months ago when Erdoğan narrowly escaped succumbing to a coup that would have seen the country descend into violent internal conflict and even civil war. Sharing its southern border with Syria and Iraq is only adding to the country’s instability.
![How America Changed Under Obama [A Data Analysis]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/y3uuX8Jtqxw/mqdefault.jpg "How America Changed Under Obama [A Data Analysis]
A data-driven look at how the U.S. changed under the presidency of Barack Obama.
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Data courtesy of Pew Research Center: http://pewrsr.ch/2jzFOHy
Researched, written, narrated and produced by Bryce Plank
Video edited by Robin West
Music: Particles Unfolding by Glimpse: https://soundcloud.com/glimpse_official/particles_unfolding
Electro Sketch by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/?keywords=electro+sketch&Search=Search
Artist: http://incompetech.com/
Script:
In 2008, Barack Obama was the change candidate. This is a data-driven look at how much America transformed during his eight years as our President. Pause or rewind the video if you need more time with any of the data.
After spiking during the Great Recession, the unemployment rate is below 5% today.
And the stock market has more than doubled.
Obamacare, the Affordable Care Act, plunged the percentage of adults without health insurance to the lowest level in history.
While the share of income going to the top 1% has continued to increase, average Americans saw the biggest jump in their household income ever in 2015, and the biggest drop in poverty since the great society programs of the 1960’s.
The violent crime rate is down almost 20% from when Obama took office.
America’s image abroad was lifted as President Obama turned away from the policies of George W. Bush and toward a more active pursuit of diplomacy to solve problems.
Today, there are less than 15,000 troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, compared to the 175,000 when he took office.
But this was coupled with Americans themselves becoming more wary of international engagement.
On energy, the Obama administration has reduced carbon emissions by 9.4%, greatly expanded wind and solar power, and cut America’s dependence on foreign oil by more than half.
In 2015, for the first time since at least 1980, the number of inmates in federal prisons actually declined.
8 states have now legalized marijuana and - for first time - a majority of Americans overall support legalization.
A majority of Americans also favor the Supreme Court’s ruling that essentially legalized same-sex marriage nationwide.
Culturally, the biggest change came when Apple released the first iPhone during Obama’s campaign for the democratic nomination in 2007. In the decade since, smartphone use has exploded and about half of all Americans now own a tablet too.
But all that technology has led to a constant stream of stories and images of violence and victimization, especially at the hands of police, seen all over the social media feeds of many Americans, that’s led to a widespread perception that race relations have deteriorated.
Millennials are now the nation’s largest living generation and the biggest potential voting block.
For the first time in 2013, the majority of newborn babies were racial or ethnic minorities, and a record-high 12% of newlyweds married someone of a different race.
Despite some people’s perception, the past seven years has seen little change in the number of unauthorized immigrants living in the United States, there was actually a net loss of over 100,000 immigrants who went back to Mexico.
The biggest religious trend during Obama’s presidency is the rise of those claiming no religion at all a group now making up a quarter of the population, and 35% of millennials.
As you can see from President Obama’s approval ratings among democrats and republicans, modern America has never been so divided along partisan lines.
Far more democrats than republicans now say immigrants strengthen the country; and when it comes to guns, far more republicans now think we should prioritize gun rights over gun control.
For various reasons, both democrats and republicans have much less faith in government. Most Americans didn’t think the government’s actions after the financial crisis helped them.
On national security, after the horrific terrorist attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, for the first time since 9/11, the government’s job rating on terrorism turned negative.
And, driven by the campaign of Donald Trump, Republicans have suddenly become anti-free trade and globalization. As you can see, Democrats’ views have remained roughly the same.
Only one-third of Americans used social media in 2008, but by 2015 that rate was 75%.
Obama was also the first Internet video president, as this media genre came of age during his time in office. YouTube now has over a billion users.
In 2016, more American adults learned about the presidential election through social media than through print newspapers, with seven-in-ten getting their news through a mobile device.")
