Bagis: "Istanbul is ready to host the olympic games"

The European Union Minister and Chief negotiator Egemen Bagis has said Istanbul is ready to host the Olympic Games. In a speech he delivered at the opening of the 1st International Sport Economy Summit organized by the U.S's Herald Tribune daily at Cıragan Palace in Istanbul, Bagis said Istanbul as a city which served as the capital of great empires in history was today an important centre to build the stability and peace of the future. "We are shouting loud and clear to the world that we are ready to host the Olympics," Bagis said adding that it would be not Istanbul's mistake that the Olympics have never been organized here, but the Olympics' mistake. "It's natural and right that the only city, which was able to obtain the EU's both titles of capital for sports and culture although it was not EU member, hosted the Olympic Games," Bagis said.