Opening lesson by Minister Karaismailoğlu
![]()
The opening lecture of the Urban Systems and Transportation Management Master’s program coordinated by Istanbul Commerce University Transportation Systems Application and Research Center was held with the participation of Adil Karaismailoğlu, Minister of Transport and Infrastructure. Minister Karaismailoğlu gave the first lecture and the program was attended by Vice Rectors Prof. Dr. Abdül Halim Zaim, Prof. Dr. Elçin Aykaç Alp, Director of the Institute of Science and Technology Prof. Dr. Doğan Kaya and Director of the Transportation Systems Application and Research Center Prof. Dr. Mustafa Ilıcalı and students.
Minister Karaismailoğlu, who attended the opening lecture of the 2022-2023 Academic Year Master’s Programs titled “Urban Systems and the New Century of Transportation” organized online by the Directorate of Transportation Systems Application and Research Center of our University, said that strong planning is required when investments are made, and that the result is more beneficial and applicable when a good plan is made.
Underlining that Turkey continues to increase its investments in an environment where crises and chaos are being talked about in the world, Karaismailoğlu stated that the sine qua non of this work is planning.
Karaismailoğlu continued his words as follows:
“Therefore, transportation planners have a great job to do. Our university professors and friends trained in planning have many duties. What is reflected to the citizens are the developments on the land, but underneath that, planning is the most valuable and precious. As a result of those plans, you can produce more valuable works in terms of cost-benefit. As a ministry, we do not only carry people and cargo. We also carry Data. Fifty percent of the world’s population lives in urban areas, but by 2050, data shows that this will increase to 70 percent and more than 90 percent of the world economy will be produced in urban areas. Between 2020 and 2050, the demand for transportation will double in terms of passenger numbers and kilometers. We have to make our planning accordingly.
New generation mobility is a must from now on and will continue to increase in our lives. We are making our plans in line with zero emission in 2053 due to the commitment we made in the Paris Climate Agreement. We are most interested in smart transportation systems. Istanbul is one of the provinces in the world where smart transportation systems have been implemented the earliest. While there were no applications such as Google or Yandex navigation systems in the world, Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality launched an application called Cep Trafik in 2007. It was a system with over 1.5 million subscribers. We were the first municipality in the world to launch navigation. It is even active now, but it is not used much because the necessary investments have not been made.”
Minister Karaismailoğlu explained that autonomous vehicles will show their presence more in the next 10 years.
Pointing out that zero emission targets are much talked about in the world, Karaismailoğlu said, “One of the most important agendas of the world is zero emission. Zero emission from transportation is a very important factor here. The transportation sector is the second sector that causes the most air pollution with 16.2 percent among other sectors.”
Reminding that 17 countries have set a zero carbon emission target in transportation by 2050, Karaismailoğlu said, “In 2020, the number of electric vehicles in the world will be 11 million, and this will increase to 85 million in 2025. By 2040, it will increase to 540 million. The electric vehicle trend will continue to increase.”
“TURKEY PROVIDES ACCESS TO 67 COUNTRIES WITH A 4-HOUR FLIGHT”
Pointing out that Turkey is at an intersection point in the middle of the north, south, east and west axes, Karaismailoğlu continued as follows:
“Turkey is in a very valuable place where 67 countries, 1.6 billion people, a gross national product of 38 trillion dollars, and a trade volume of 7 trillion dollars can be reached with a 4-hour flight. We are in the middle of Eurasia. There is an important thesis in the world that ‘he who dominates Eurasia dominates the world’. Currently, there is an annual trade volume of 710 billion dollars from China to Europe. This mostly passes through Turkey. ‘How much share can we get from this 710 billion dollars of trade? We are developing our policies for this. Turkey’s position turns out to be very important.
Currently, the world trade volume is 12 billion tons, by 2030 it will be 25 billion tons. The middle corridor is our most important treasure. We are developing policies to improve our trade volume in the middle corridor. Especially after the Russian-Ukrainian war, the value of the middle corridor has increased a lot. Before the war in the northern corridor, we had aimed to take 30 percent of the 5 thousand block trains per year to the middle corridor, but this will increase much more in the coming years. We are implementing policies to increase the capacity of this middle corridor. In fact, all countries bordering the Black Sea are investing in their ports. Because in the coming years, the Black Sea will turn into a commercial lake. In order to be prepared for this, we are developing our existing port capacities and making investments in our existing ports. Rize İyidere Logistics Port is one of them, and capacity building in Trabzon. Samsun Port has become a transfer point for Ro-Ro ships, especially after the Russian war. Also, Filyos Port and Karasu Port will be one of the most valuable ports.”
Stating that they contribute to the infrastructure and production of the regions thanks to their transportation infrastructure, Karaismailoğlu said, “If you look at the last 20 years, we have invested 183 billion dollars as the Ministry. We allocated 65 percent of this investment to highways, but in the 190 billion dollars of investment we will make from now until 2053, railways have increased to 65 percent. After that, it is not possible for highways to be completely reduced to zero, but our highway investments will drop to 25-30 percent. We continue our work with a period of investment focused especially on railways. Therefore, we renewed our entire railway network of 13 thousand 200 kilometers. Our high-speed train lines have increased up to 1400 kilometers. Today, we have made important efforts to extend our high-speed train network, which has reached 8 cities, to 52 cities.”
Karaismailoğlu stated that Turkey’s space adventure started in 1990 and said, “When we came to today, there have been tremendous developments. In 2021, there is now a Turkey that launched 2 new generation satellites into space in the world. Turksat 4A, Turksat 5A and Turksat 5B were launched into space in 2021. These are new generation satellites with a 35-year lifespan. They are also commercial satellites, serving the world. We receive commercial revenues from these satellites. Türksat 6A satellite was produced in Ankara. Completely with our local engineers. Hopefully, we have made our contracts for the launch of our 2023 target. In the same way, we will send it into space by SpaceX.”
“83 PERCENT OF TURKEY’S POPULATION USES THE INTERNET”
Explaining that 65 percent of the world’s population and 83 percent of Turkey’s population use the internet, and that Turkey is one of the countries that use the internet the most, Karaismailoğlu said:
“With this awareness, our fiber and satellite investments continue to respond to the increasing capacity every year. 5G is among our important plans. 5G is an important technology that will provide very different privileges especially in industry, medical and industry and can increase the speed almost 100 times. In order to do this with domestic and national means, we are supporting the private sector and as the Ministry, 2023 will be a very important year for 5G in order to switch to this as soon as possible with GSM companies.
As of 2021, e-Government has 56 million users. It has become a part of our lives. Nearly 60 thousand vehicles pass through Osmangazi Bridge now. The alternative to this was the ferry. Before the bridge opened, ferries did not have a carrying capacity of 10-15 thousand. Without Osmangazi Bridge, 70 percent of this traffic would not have been provided. In 2016, when Osmangazi Bridge was not opened, the toll on the ferry was 31 dollars, despite the limited number of vehicles. We only charge 10 dollars for the bridge crossing now, and our citizens are happy to use it. In addition, the hours-long crossing is now down to 5 minutes. Istanbul Airport is also one of the world’s successful projects in terms of public-private partnership, both in terms of investment and value. This is one of the most valuable projects in the world, built on an area of 70 million square meters, on an area with negative economic value, with an investment of 10 billion euros, and will generate a total of 26 billion euros in revenue for our state through 25 years of public-private cooperation.”
Açılış dersini izlemek için tıklayınız.
