It was in April 2020 when the outbreak hadn’t become a nightmare yet. When we first set off, little did we know that Stone would be the last fair that we’d see for a long time. I’m obviously not talking about a fair that was held 11 months ago. What I want to share with you is the great shame brought on a natural stone heaven such as Turkey. We’ll compare these two airports where I made transfers on my way to Bangalore from Izmir. Let’s see the differences between the new Istanbul Airport and Muscat Airport.
The first stop of my journey starting in Izmir was Istanbul. It was the first time that I saw that place. As I was looking around to find the counter of Oman Air, I also tried to explore this new pearl of Istanbul with curious eyes. It was beautiful as they said. The new area was bright. However, there wasn’t even a single thing that would remind you that you were in Istanbul! Only the writings in Turkish on the walls and the “Istanbul” script at some point of the terminal. As expected, my eyes were scanning the ground and the walls to see some natural stones. Unfortunately, all I saw was the imported granites that didn’t show any workmanship and aesthetical beauty. Decisions made by authorities unaware of Turkey’s status as a natural stone heaven filled my heart with anger.
Then I arrived at the second stop. Muscat Airport in Oman. It was a new area after the 2018 renovation made at the Muscat International Airport constructed in 1973. What caught my eye in the area was how much the natural stone was applied. To be more precise, Oman Beige. As soon as you step into the place from the international flight gate you see this stone applied on the ground and the columns. The “domestic and national” approach that I am talking about was quite present in sometimes CNC decorations and through Oman Beige adorned and colored with different onyx applications in the international transfer area. The people of Oman proudly promote and exhibit their national stone where they’re most integrated with the world, at the airport.
As a Turk active in the natural stone sector, this view hurt my heart. On one side Oman valuing its national stone, and on the other, Turkey applying imported stones in its own area. The thing is, it’s not this approach of Oman that we should underline here. Some of you might not know that for the fourth terminal of Madrid Barajas Airport a tender was made and the unchangeable condition set by the Spanish National Airports Authority (AENA) for the project was the appliance of the beige stones extracted in the Barajas region of Spain. More than one million square meters of Spanish stones were applied at the largest airport in Spain.
The shames brought on the Turkish natural stone sector are beyond count. You’ll remember. We imported Chinese granites for the construction of Istanbul Atatürk Airport. For the renovation of Izmir Adnan Menderes Airport, we imported granite from China! We excluded the Burdur Beige from the project of Sabiha Gökçen Airport and imported granite from India. Again, we imported granite from Brazil as we were building the third airport in Istanbul. I do wonder when this habit of backstabbing our national natural stone sector will end.
