Sample Essay

Istanbul, which was the capital of lots of civilizations, is the most important city of Turkey because of not only its geographical location and its beauty but also the job opportunities it provides. Because of these reasons, millions of people have been migrating to Istanbul. Today, the population of Istanbul has already reached about 20 million. Such a crowd, naturally, leads to problems like traffic jam and environmental pollution at dangerous levels. (There are mainly two severe problems caused by overpopulation in Istanbul. One is the terrible traffic jam and the other (one) is environmental pollution.)

Because of the severe traffic jam in Istanbul, it is very hard to live in this metropolitan city. Firstly, people spend a long time on the road. For example, anyone who lives in Maltepe and works in Levent has to set off at six o'clock in the morning to go to work. Similarly, a lot of people waste lots of time in traffic. Secondly, people can be aggressive during traffic jams. For instance, taxi drivers suffer from psychological distress as they are always stuck in traffic and behave aggressively towards others. Some drivers can easily start fights and some yell. In brief, living in Istanbul is very difficult because people become aggressive and violent, and a lot of time is wasted in traffic.

In addition to the traffic jam, environmental pollution has also reached dangerous levels, due to overpopulation in Istanbul. Air pollution comes first among other pollution types in Istanbul. The reason why air pollution is at dangerous/serious/severe levels is that there are thousands of factories and millions of cars without exhaust filters. As a result, factories emit carbon dioxide, high amount of hazardous pollutants, and toxic chemicals, and all these contaminate the air of Istanbul. Next, chemical and radioactive wastes which are thrown out from chemical plants and industries cause water pollution. Therefore, it is impossible to have clean, uncontaminated water at homes.

In conclusion, overcrowding is gradually making Istanbul an unbearable place where the roads are not enough for so many cars, and where the air and water are too polluted for the citizens to lead a healthy life. However, population growth in Istanbul can be avoided by only spreading the business and industrial areas to other cities in equal amount.

Written by a class of Semra Gönel, English Instructor at İTÜ