Economist Mustafa Sonmez evaluated the cost for Turkey and Istanbul, of hosting the NATO Summit. He especially drew attention to the concept of dirty tourism."
"Negative advertisement, instead of a positive one."
Sonmez said that the people of Istanbul had to live under martial law during the summit. "When all these things are happening, it is impossible to say, 'we beautifully promoted our country,'" he argued.
"The summit of this fighter and global organization brought stress and fear to the people of Istanbul. They could not have limited people's freedoms to this extent in a country in Europe. Such a meeting could have only taken place in Turkey. And the international media watched it along with us."
Sonmez also reminded the fact that the foreign reporters were warned not to drink tap water, not to forget that they were in a region with high terrorism risks, and not to get close with people or talk to them. He said that the summit, let alone improving the image of Istanbul, caused it to be announced as a city with high terrorism risks.
"Any security problem in Istanbul on these days would cause Istanbul's name to go with terrorism. Such a meeting was a huge risk," he said.
"Summit caused economic shrinkage, not growth"
"The cost of the summit will be paid by the citizens," said Sonmez, talking about the spending made for the NATO meeting.
"These expenses will be paid by people's taxes. The sponsoring companies will reflect their expenses to the prices of their goods and services, and make the people pay for them too," he said.
"Istanbul generates one third of Turkey's national income. The tempo, the goods and services production of the city decreased. The NATO Summit caused a serious drop in national income. It brought along economic shrinkage, not growth." (BB)
