Erdogan to Lead Istanbul Bid at IOC Vote

(ATR) Around the Rings has learned that Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan will lead the Istanbul 2020 at the IOC Session Buenos Aires.

"He’s going to be in Buenos Aires," Deputy Prime Minister Ali Babacan told ATR at the IOC Extraordinary Session in Lausanne Wednesday.

"He’s going to be our chief, our head of delegation in the final, final decision moments. He was a professional soccer player so he’s very into sport."

Babacan spoke to ATR shortly after Istanbul 2020’s 45-minute presentation to IOC members. Of the current 100 members, 86 were in the audience. Among the list of 14 absentees were Britain’s Princess Anne, Qatar’s new emir, Sheikh Tamim Hamad Al-Thani, new Dutch King Willem- Alexander, Monaco’s Prince Albert and FIFA president Sepp Blatter.

Tokyo presented before lunch, with Madrid scheduled to take the stage after the break. Smacking of a lack of transparency, all three presentations were behind closed doors with very restricted access at the coffee break for media to reach IOC members to gauge their feedback. It was a similar set-up in 2009 for the 2016 candidate cities briefing, the first one ever held.

According to IOC members interviewed by ATR, what was striking about the Istanbul presentation was the briefest of references to the anti-government protests that rocked the nation last month. Despite the anti-Erdogan demonstrations, not a single question came from IOC members about the rioting.

Few details emerged at the Istanbul 2020 press conference of what the bid team led by Hasan Arat, Turkish IOC member Ugur Erdener and sports minister Suat Kilic actually presented.

Asked if it was a deliberate policy not to address the violent protests that swept the nation, Babacan admitted that he had briefly mentioned the civil unrest. While he welcomed peaceful protests, "violence is not something that could be tolerated".

In confrontations with protesters, police used tear gas and water cannons, which Babacan said was a "proportional reaction", although he later conceded that police had made some mistakes.

Speaking to ATR, Babacan, who answered more questions than Arat at the news conference, said protests were "very natural in any democracy, these things happen".

He added: "Every incident is agood excuse to learn from and just to upgrade our practices whether it’s about freedoms and fundamental rights. It’s a changing country, we shouldn’t forget that."

A press release outlined the speeches given by the bid officials. Most notable was a line from Erdener, which suggested using the phasing "compact Games" was not enough anymore without providing some context. He told delegates that the Istanbul 2020 concept was "actually very similar in scale to those of the past several Olympic Games."

About 100 media packed the press conference. In his opening remarks, Arat said Istanbul was "really pleased with the presentation and with the feedback."

According to IOC members canvassed by ATR, around 10 questions were put to the Turkish bid team in the auditorium. They included questions on finances, transport, construction deliverability, the economy and media freedoms.

IOC Members React

Gerhard Heiberg of Norway

"They didn’t raise the issue of demonstrations. It’s seven years until the Games. No one asked about it We are looking long-term. Maybe we should have discussed security but we didn’t."

Habib Macki of Oman

"Excellent. If they can deliver that it is superb. All the venues are very close together. Facilities for the athletes are excellent." Asked by ATR about the protests and whether they will hurt the bid: "I don’t think so because nobody raised it as a question… it is not a crisis of financing… it’s against an area of Istanbul to be demolished and reconstructed."

Gian-Franco Kasper of Switzerland

"It was a very normal presentation. There was nothing special that said ‘evolutionary’…

really nothing I would say was unique and that changes the world."

Reported by Mark Bisson.

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