Turkey’s first automated urban metro system was inaugurated on Friday in the country’s largest city of Istanbul by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım.
Erdoğan and Yıldırım inaugurated the first phase of Uskudar-Sancaktepe Metro line in the Asian part of the city.
“This system will transport 700,000 passengers daily and we plan on extending the line to Sabiha Gökçen Airport. With the addition of this line, we have brought the distance of Istanbul’s metro lines to 160 kilometers,” Erdoğan said.
The 10.5-kilometer part of the 20 kilometer-long metro line from Üsküdar to Umraniye will be opened for mass transportation and the remaining part will be launched in June 2018.
“This metro line will service nine stations over a distance of 10.5 kilometers. The total cost was $3 billion,” said Yıldırım.
The full-length line consists of 16 stations and will carry 700,000 passengers per day when it is completely functional.
The line will be integrated with two major intercontinental mass transportation lines, Metrobus road and Marmaray intercontinental subway, which connect Asian and European parts of the city.
Earlier in the day, Erdoğan announced a UN initiative to counter the recent U.S. move recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. Erdoğan said that the initiative first will be brought before the UN Security Council, which the U.S. is a permanent member of, and if it is vetoed there, it will be brought to the UN General Assembly.
“Trump’s Jerusalem decision is a sign of a future operation against the Muslim world. There is injustice and abuse in Jerusalem. Jerusalem is our honor, pride and red line. Just as there is no alternative to Mecca or Medina, neither is there an alternative to Jerusalem. We will not give up on this city," Erdoğan said.
"If we cannot save Jerusalem, we as Muslims will be held to account. This is a turning point for Muslims,” he added.
