From the archive record
Istanbul has two international airports, the larger of which is Istanbul Atatürk. Atatürk International Airport (IST) at Yeşilyurt, located 24 kilometers (15 mi) west of the Sultanahmet Square, is the busiest of Turkey's major airports and handled 45.1 million passengers in 2012, making it the sixth-busiest airport in Europe and the twentieth-busiest in the world. Istanbul is the largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With a population of 13.9 million, the city forms one of the largest urban agglomerations in Europe and is the third-largest city in the world by population within city limits. Istanbul's vast area of 5,343 square kilometers (2,063 sq mi) is coterminous with Istanbul Province, of which the city is the administrative capita