 Turkish anti-terrorist forces have stepped up their activities |
Tight security measures have been put in place ahead of the inaugural Turkish Grand Prix in Istanbul on Sunday. Two thousand paramilitary police will patrol the new circuit, fans will pass through metal detectors on entry and all vehicles will be searched.
Mumtaz Tahincioglu, head of the Turkish Motorsports Federation, said: "Measures we're taking here for security purposes have been doubled."
In the last month alone, Turkey has suffered two fatal terrorist attacks.
Three weeks ago a bomb planted in a rubbish bin in an Istanbul suburb close to the track killed two people.
In mid-July, a bomb on a minibus in the Aegean resort town of Kusadasi killed five people, including a British woman and an Irish teenager.
Last week, police detained a suspected al-Qaeda militant they believe planned to slam an explosives-packed speedboat into Israeli cruise ships visiting Turkey.
In 2003, Istanbul was the target of an al-Qaeda suicide attack that killed some 60 people.
Turkish government officials have been hoping that the Grand Prix will act as a significant boost to the country's beleaguered tourism industry.
"With such an event you don't count the money you paid, you count the benefits to Turkey's promotion," said prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan after visiting the track.
The government has come in for criticism after the cost of building the circuit jumped from �33m to an estimated �83m.
But Murat Yalcintas, head of the Istanbul chamber of commerce, said the event could bring up to �66m in revenue.
Concerns also remain about how ready the circuit will be for its Formula One debut.
Work was still being done on Tuesday, with construction workers paving parking areas, putting in guard rails along the access roads and planting trees around the circuit.
Tahincioglu admitted: "The landscaping is not going to be absolutely perfect.
"What you see here are the final touches - mostly cleaning and painting."
MMIX
E-mail this to a friend 
Printable version 
