Turkey sure has had a rough several weeks. In late June several explosions went off at Istanbul’s Ataturk Airport, and then a couple of weeks later there was an attempted military coup. Tourism in Turkey was already way down before these two things happened due to general safety concerns, and I imagine it’s down even further now.
It must be especially rough for Turkish Airlines, given that they’re a pretty solid airline with fantastic business class catering and a very nice lounge in Istanbul, possibly one of the nicest business class lounges out there. The airline relies largely on connecting traffic to fill planes, and personally I’d feel completely safe flying with them right now. However, I know others feel differently.
Well, in light of the events of a couple of weeks ago, Turkish Airlines has decided to change the name of their Istanbul Lounge to the “July 15 Heroes of Democracy Lounge.”
Per the “welcome aboard letter” in Skylife, Turkish Airlines’ inflight magazine:
Turkey went through a critical turning point on the night of July 15. We are still seeing the effects and consequences of this fateful night. This process revealed many things to us. Firstly, The Republic of Turkey, which has been a symbol of stability with its increasing influence in the region and the world, and its strengthening democracy, has the capacity to stand erect and will never lose this strength. Secondly, the people, who defeated this vile attempt that was aiming to undermine the parliament, its selected representatives and will, rallied upon our President H.E. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s call and underlined the fact that democracy is the best way of administration for Turkey. Moreover, the resulting atmosphere of national solidarity and unity, as well as the rekindled patriotic feelings, reinforced our high hopes for a better future. In order to commemorate this historic day, we decided to change the name of our CIP Passenger Lounge at Atatürk Airport to “July 15 Heroes of Democracy Lounge.”
Alrighty then…
(Tip of the hat to @starflyergold)
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