President Abdullah Gul and Prime Minister Recep Tayip Erdogan have both stressed their country's unique role as a link between East and West. "Look, this is the European side of Istanbul, there is the Asian side over there and the bridge stands right in the middle," Gul told reporters in June.
Predsednik Abdulah Gul i premijer Redžep Tajip Erdogan su obojica istakli jedinstvenu ulogu njihove zemlje kao mosta između Istoka i Zapada. „Pogledajte, ovo je evropska strana Istanbula, tamo je azijska strana, a most je u sredini“, rekao je Gul novinarima u junu.