[Venue-selection] Istanbul

["Ali C. Begen" <[e-mail]>]

Hi there,

As someone who moved back to Turkiye about 10 years ago, I want to provide
some input.

First, the VPN information is inaccurate. VPNs are used on a daily basis by
the public (at all ages) because of particular websites/services being
banned by the local courts temporarily or permanently. The VPN provider
websites are often blocked but there is no problem reaching the VPN servers
once an account is established through other means (like in-app purchases
or getting an account outside the country). So, I believe some revision on
this subject is required.

Second, there are (runoff) elections this weekend. Doing a general
reassessment in a few months might be reasonable (although I don't
personally expect many changes in the current government).

Section 6.1 assessment seems contradictory. The reported value is 0.693 and
the threshold is 0.7 (are these numbers this accurate?). The report says
there was no data to check whether Istanbul was any better or worse than
the country's average. That is absolutely the case (anybody who has even a
vague idea of the country would agree to this). So, rather than a red flag,
maybe you should have used an orange (or at least a gray) flag.

Section 6.3 assessment is itself a big political and public discussion
point in the country (depending on who you ask about it). I have my
opinions on this, so does everybody else. The only thing I want to say is
that anybody following common sense when speaking in public about sensitive
subjects will unlikely get into any trouble. In other words, unless someone
is deliberately looking for trouble, there won't likely be one.

One final input I can provide is that I organized a large MPEG (ISO)
meeting last month in Antalya (not Istanbul). Please have a look at the
website for participant comments (also photos and videos):
https://mpeg142.com/en/. The comments were overwhelmingly positive (despite
some initial concerns similar to the ones outlined in your report).
FWIW, you can also consider Antalya as a potential venue as it may offer
better weather, more activities and a more relaxed meeting environment
(beach, nature, etc.). In the end, both cities have excellent flight
connections, are among the world's top tourist destinations and visa is a
non-issue for many countries.

Thanks.
-acbegen