With Turkey, a FIL member federation since 2009, the total number of countries who have hosted a FIL Congress now stands at 20 (AUT, BUL, BRA, CAN, CZE, FRA, GER /including FRG + GDR, GRE, ITA, JPN, YUG, LAT, NOR, POL, RUS, SUI, SVK, SWE, TUR, USA). “Record venues” are Innsbruck (Austria) and Berchtesgaden (Germany) who have hosted five Congresses so far. The first FIL Congress took place in Cortina d’Ampezzo (Italy) on February 6, 1953. Last year, the FIL convened in Riga (Latvia). The next elections are due at the 2014 Congress that will be hosted by Innsbruck.

Istanbul is the most populous city in Turkey, a center for culture, trade, finance and media. The metropolitan area extends to the northern shore of the Sea of Marmara to both sides of the Bosporus, the straits between the Mediterranean and the Black Sea. With Thrace in Europe and Anatolia in Asia, Istanbul is the only metropolis in the world that embraces two continents