After the Egyptian "Octagon".. Türkiye presents "I Yildiz" as a front for its joint military leadership to NATO
Turkey is preparing to receive defense ministers and high-level representatives from NATO inside its new military command headquarters, "I Yildiz", in the capital, Ankara, in a move that gives the project a political and military dimension that goes beyond being merely an administrative complex affiliated with the armed forces.
Satellite images analyzed by the Al Jazeera Network's open source unit show that the main mass of the complex has been largely completed, while construction and finishing work is still ongoing in parts of its outer surroundings, which places the project in a transitional phase between the completion of its symbolic form and the continuation of its field preparation on the ground.
This appearance coincides with the NATO summit scheduled in Ankara on July 7-8. According to the official program of the alliance, the summit will be held at the Beştepe presidential complex, while the Iyıldız headquarters will host a social reception for the defense ministers on the evening of July 7, making the headquarters part of the official facade that Ankara presents to its allies.
What is “I yildiz”?
The Turkish Ministry of Defense said that the “I Yildiz” project aims to bring together the ministry, the Chief of Staff, and the leadership of the land, naval and air forces within one campus, within the framework of strengthening the concept of joint operations within the Turkish Armed Forces. Ministry spokesman Admiral Zeki Akturk added that the complex was designed with inspiration from Turkish science, and was built according to the concept of smart buildings and advanced technological infrastructure, with equipment that includes cybersecurity, ballistic protection, and confronting chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear threats. The Ministry described the headquarters, as it confirmed, as one of the largest military headquarters in the world.
A huge complex is gradually forming
A series of satellite images extending from April 2020 until this June reveal the transformation of the site from an open area and scattered buildings into a large military complex, whose circular features gradually began to become clear before the design inspired by the crescent and star appeared in the latest images. The comparison shows that the pace of construction has accelerated in recent years, with the emergence of the main building, the internal road network, and the courtyards surrounding it, while the outskirts of the site still bear indications of the continuation of work, whether in leveling, finishing, or the ancillary service structure.
In the context of the symbolic preparations for the summit, Anadolu Agency reported, citing the General Directorate of Mints and Stamps of the Turkish Ministry of Treasury and Finance, that Ankara minted a commemorative 5-lira coin on the occasion of hosting the NATO summit, bearing the alliance’s logo and a picture of the Turkish presidential complex, in preparation for putting it into circulation.
