The Edifice Complex Driving Turkey's Scandal
Prime Minister Erdogan’s obsession with building triggers a probe
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An hour’s drive north of Istanbul, two giant concrete towers flank the Bosporus, one in Asia, the other in Europe. By 2015 a $2.5 billion suspension bridge will hang between the towers, which will reach 322 meters (1,056 feet). Nearby, a Manhattan-size swath of forest is being readied for a $14 billion airport, one of the world’s largest.
The projects continue a decade-long $200 billion public works plan undertaken by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan that strengthens Turkey’s ambitions as a regional power. After arrests that targeted Turkish politicians and businessmen close to Erdogan, the building sites now risk becoming emblems of the corruption and largesse that prosecutors say has permeated Erdogan’s designs for a new Turkey.