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İstanbul (Metropolitan Municipality, Turkey)

Istanbul

Flag of Istanbul, three variants - Images by Jaume Ollé, 22 March 2004

Flag of Istanbul
Districts of Istanbul: Part 1 (A-F)
Districts of Istanbul: Part 2 (G-Z)
Universities in Istanbul
- Istanbul University (İstanbul Üniversitesi)
- Istanbul Commerce University (İstanbul Ticaret Üniversitesi)
Sports clubs in Istanbul

See also:

Flag of Istanbul

The emblem of the town of Istanbul was designed by Metin Edremit, winner of a contest organized by the municipal administration in 1969.
The lower part of the emblem shows the Bosphorus, which separates the town into two parts and combines two continents (Europe and Asia). The city walls of the historical town are shown on each side. The famous mosques of Istanbul and their minarets, which constitute a major item in the town's tourism potential, are symbolized as they are seen in the Istanbul skyline. The seven triangles in the middle of the emblem represent the seven hills on which Istanbul was built.
The semi-circular writing below the emblem reads "BÜYÜKŞEHIR BELEDIYESI", that is "Metropolitan Municipality".

The emblem is also the logo of the municipality, widely used as it is or on flags. Two variants of the flag are seen in various parts of town. The first variant is the blue version of the red flag whereas the second variant is white with the logotype in blue and horizontal writing.

Onur Özgün, 22 March 2004; information received from the municipality of Istanbul

A photo (31 May 2008), shows a fourth variant, red with the municipal emblem but lacking the writing "İSTANBUL".
Another photo (30 October 2007), confirms the design with "İSTANBUL" above the emblem, the flag being displayed vertically.

Ivan Sache, 23 May 2009

Universities in Istanbul

Istanbul University

Flag of Istanbul University - Image by Ivan Sache, 28 June 2013

Istanbul University (İstanbul Üniversitesi; website) is made of 20 Faculties, 3 Schools and 6 Vocational Higher Schools. Some 90,000 students are taught by 5,300 staff members. The university manages 12 campuses, the main of them being BeyazÄıt-Central campus, whose monumental gate, built in 1864-1869, is the symbol of the university.
Istanbul University is considered to have been first established in 1453 by Sultan Mehmed II in Zeyrek and Hagia Sophia madrasahs. Among the first professors was the mathematician and astronomer Ali Qushji (1403-1474), the head of Samarkand observatory. In 1470, the two madrasahs were incorporated into the Fatih complex, which included a mosque, eight madrasahs, a library, an hospital and a guest-house. Mulla Khusraw (d. 1480) was the first head of the complex. In 1557, Suleyman the Magnificent commissioned the architect Mimar Sinan to build the Suleyman complex, a peak in the Ottoman architecture and education.
In the 19th century, the madrasahs, deemed obsolete, were replaced by institutes of higher education called darülfünun, which were the core of the modern Istanbul University. Recognized a State school on 21 April 1924, the university was reorganized on 1 August 1933. In the 1930s, the Istanbul University hired several German and Austrian scientists expelled from the Third Reich by anti-Jewish laws or for political reasons, such as the astronom Erwin Finlay-Freundlich (1885-1964), the botanist Alfred Heilbronn (1885-1961), the philologist Leo Spitzer (1887-1960), the mathematician Richard von Mises (1883-1953), the odontologist Alfred Kantorowicz (1880-1962), and the physician Friedrich Dessauer (1881-1963).

The flag of Istanbul University (photo, photo) is white with the university's emblem in the middle.

Ivan Sache, 28 June 2013

Istanbul Commerce University

Flag of ITICU - Image by Ivan Sache, 4 November 2010

Istanbul Commerce University (İstanbul Ticaret Üniversitesi - ITICU) (website), founded in 2001 by the Istanbul Chamber of Commerce, caters more than 1,100 students. The University is made of the Faculties of Arts and Science, Commercial Sciences, Law, Communication, and Engineering and Design.

The flag of ITICU (photos, 27 December 2009) is golden yellow with the university's emblem in the middle.
The emblem of ITICU is a golden yellow disk outlined in black, with, in the middle, a logo seemingly formed with the letters "I", "T", "C" and "U", placed on four steps, surrounded by the university's name and foundation year, all in black.

Ivan Sache, 4 November 2010