Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Abdulkadir Uraloğlu attended the opening ceremony of the new terminal building of Siirt Airport in Siirt, where he came for a series of visits and openings.
Speaking here, Uraloğlu stated that the 4th runway of Istanbul Airport has also been put into operation and said:
In Siirt, the Home of Scholars, in this ancient geography where Anatolia and Mesopotamia intersect, today is the day of that beautiful light event that takes place every year on September 23 with the sunrise in Tillo. This important moment, when İbrahim Hakkı brought together science and faith, reminds us all of the ancient bond that Siirt has with the sky.
Today, we are experiencing the pride and joy of bringing Siirt together with the sky again. The year 2026 will be a year that will witness historical projects and breakthroughs in terms of Turkish aviation, starting from the first month. In January, we opened the 3rd runway and modern air traffic control tower of Esenboğa Airport.
We set a new standard in private aviation on a global scale by opening the JETEX-İGA General Aviation and CIP terminal at Istanbul Airport in May. Before the historic NATO summit, we completed the former Etimesgut Airport and the new Ankara Airport, and renewed and strengthened the aviation infrastructure of our capital in accordance with both civil and official protocol needs.
We almost did it again. Last Friday, with the honor of our President, we commissioned the 4th runway of our Istanbul Airport, which has an important location at the global connection point. Now, we continue to bring the abundance of our new investments, like these great moves, to every corner of our country.
'WORKS ARE BEING COMPLETED IN MALATYA AND HATAY'
Stating that the new terminal building of Siirt Airport has been increased to 3 thousand 135 square meters, Minister Uraloğlu said, "We will hopefully finish and put into service the new terminal building with a capacity of 2.5 million passengers in Malatya, which has regained its feet after the earthquake. We hope to complete the renovation works at Hatay Airport, which was also affected by the earthquake, by the end of the year.
And today, we are with you in our beautiful city, Siirt, at one of the proud stops of this big picture. We reopened Siirt Airport, which we had temporarily closed to flight traffic due to renovation works, to flights on September 12, allowing Siirt to meet the sky again. We increased the terminal building of Siirt Airport, which we officially opened today, from 1062 square meters in its old version to 3 thousand 135 square meters.
Thus, we expanded the departure lounge from 539 square meters to 1500 square meters, that is, approximately 3 floors. We increased the arrivals terminal and lounge from 195 square meters to 640 square meters, and the VIP area, which was only 43 square meters, from 310 square meters to 310 square meters. We expanded our administrative buildings from 285 square meters to 615 square meters. In addition, we modernized the additional service buildings and put them back into service.
We have increased and strengthened the security measures of our airport by designing a 7 thousand 800 meter long perimeter security road and walls. Thus, by increasing the passenger capacity from 100 thousand to 250 thousand, we brought a more spacious, more organized, more comfortable and safer air transportation infrastructure to Siirt. In the future, these will not be enough for Siirt. "As long as these are not enough, we will hopefully be gifting bigger and better ones to our Siirt brothers by making them and letting them use them," he said.
'OUR PRESIDENT MADE A LEGENDARY SPEECH AT THE UN'
Minister Uraloğlu stated that President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's speech at the 81st General Assembly discussions in the United Nations General Assembly Hall made everyone proud and said, "Look, we have made and implemented many investments in Siirt under the leadership of our President, Mr. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, in the last 24 years. As the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure, we have realized an investment of 63 billion lira in the transportation and communication infrastructure of Siirt since 2002. We did it only as our ministry.
You know, as our President says, 'from where to where'. He made a truly legendary speech at the United Nations yesterday. May God be pleased with him. We were all proud to be the spokesperson of not only Muslims but all the oppressed. "If Allah Almighty has given us the opportunity to walk with such a leader, we cannot be thankful enough," he said.
'WE STRENGTHENED SİİRT'S TRANSPORTATION INFRASTRUCTURE'
Providing information about the transportation investments, road projects and railway works made in Siirt, Minister Uraloğlu said:
"Look, there were only 7 kilometers of divided roads in Siirt in 2002. Today, we increased it to 138 kilometers. Our bituminous hot mixture coated road length was 2 kilometers. Today, we brought it to 133 kilometers and brought our Siirt brothers together with comfort and safety. We can also say that we rebuilt the 204 kilometers of road from scratch. Siirt ring road, Siirt city crossing, Siirt-Kurtalan road and Siirt Airport connection. We have completed and put into service important projects such as the road, Kozluk-Baykan road, Batman-Beşiri-Kurtalan road, Siirt-Tillo road and Küçüksu-Pervari road.
We also completed the Zarova and Botan bridges within the scope of the Siirt-Eruh road project and put them into service. Thank God, the Beğendik Bridge, which we built on the Botan Stream along with the Küçüksu-Hizan-Pervari road, connected Pervari to Bitlis and Van safely and comfortably. Dear brothers and sisters, since the day it was opened, approximately 2 million vehicles have passed through there.
I would like to point out that it is a really good number. We have made very important investments for the development of Siirt's railway infrastructure, we continue to do so, I hope we will. We completely renewed the entire railway network. Now, with the 34-kilometer-long Siirt-Kurtalan railway project, we are directly connecting our city center to the national railway network by extending the existing line from Kurtalan to Siirt. During the day, we will carry out construction work and inspections on site with our friends.
When we complete this line, Siirt city center will be directly connected to the national railway network for the first time. Siirt Airport and Siirt University will thus have railway access. In fact, when a brother from Siirt gets on our train from the city center, Kurtalan, he will come and get off at the airport stop and complete his journey right here. A new capacity will emerge in passenger and freight transportation. It will make a strong contribution to the economic and social life, transportation diversity and accessibility of the region.
Rest assured that we will continue to support you with projects that will carry Siirt's spiritual heritage into the future and strengthen its economic and social life. "Under the leadership of our President, Mr. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, we will continue to equip Siirt and every corner of our country with an infrastructure worthy of the Türkiye Century vision."
