"Europa Nostra", international organisation centered in London, awarded Yesil Ev the medal for the year. The best analysis of the role undertaken by Yesil Ev in Istanbul tourism comes from the pen of the historian of Byzantine art, Lord John Julius Norwich:
" In the early 1980's, something wonderfull happened: Mr. Celik Gulersoy, director general of the Touring and Automobile Association of Turkey, opened an enchanting little hotel on the edge of the small park that separates the city's most venerable Byzantine church, St. Sophia, from the one of its magnificent Islamic monuments, the Sultan Ahmed (Blue) Mosque, The hotel-called the Yesil Ev, for "Green House" was an old woodeen house of the mid-nineteenth century and in most cities would have been lovingly and sensitively restored by Mr. Gulersoy and filled with furniture and fittings

This judgement was confirmed by President Mitterand, who chose Yesil Ev for his New Year visit in 1992/1993