1950: Istanbul Regional air navigation meeting
The second
Middle East Regional Air Navigation (MERAN) Meeting was convened by ICAO at
the Yildiz Palace, Istanbul, Turkey, from 17 October to 7 November 1950.
Representatives of sixteen Member States, one non-Contracting State and four
international organizations attended this Meeting. The first MERAN meeting was
held in Cairo in October 1946.
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Istanbul
- Yildiz Palace |
The Yildiz
Palace was certainly one of the most beautiful palaces of Istanbul and also the
last built by the Ottoman dynasty. It is the sultan Abdülhamit II (1876-1909)
who built it and lived there during his reign. Built in the old Ottoman style, this second
largest palace in Istanbul was a complex of pavilions and gardens scattered
over a large area of hills and valleys overlooking the Bosphorus and surrounded
by high walls. During his thirty-three year reign, the sultan used this
well-protected palace resembling a city within a city as his official quarters
and harem.
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Vertical
bisect |
The
different courtyards, containing: pavilions, pools, greenhouses, aviaries,
workshops and servants' quarters, were separated from each other by passageways
and gates. The Sale, the largest and most exquisite of the buildings, reveals
the luxury in which the sultans lived and entertained. The main part of the
palace was called ”Yıldız Sarayı Hümayun-u” (i.e. Yildız Imperial Palace). The Turkish word Yildiz means Star.
On 17
October 1950, Turkey issued a set of three stamps (Scott #1034-1037) to
commemorate this RAN meeting; these are also the first stamps issued within the
ICAO stamp collection, should PICAO’s time be excluded. It is to be noted that
many freaks (i.e. misperforations or missing perforations) of these stamps can
be found. In the special postmark for this meeting, the Turkish words BÖGLE
TOPLANTISI means REGIONAL MEETING.
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17th century bird‑flight of Hezârfen Ahmet Çelebi |
Biplane over Taurus mountains |
Airport entry and Douglas DC‑3 over
Istanbul |
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First Day Cover with generic aircraft on the cachet. |
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Service
cover used for the meeting – Text in English. |
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Service
cover used for the meeting – Text in Turkish. |
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Service cover used for this meeting with the special
postmarks. |
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Back of the above cover showing: ICAO/Yildizsarayi – ISTANBUL. |
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