ISTANBUL

Turkish actor and dubbing artist İsmail Köksal Engür died on March 27 at the age of 77 due to complications caused by renal failure.

Engür's funeral ceremony was held yesterday, and he was buried at Karacaahmet Cemetery in Istanbul.

Engür is best remembered for his role as "Ak Sakallı Dede" (White-Bearded Dede) in one of the most popular Turkish TV series "Leyla ile Mecnun."

BUDAPEST - Serbian Minister of Construction, Transport and Infrastructure Goran Vesic said on Tuesday in Budapest Serbia and Hungary would invite Bulgaria, North Macedonia, Albania, Greece and Turkey to join the construction of a regional high-speed rail line that would first connect Budapest and Belgrade and then also Nis and Presevo, in the south of central Serbia.

The 119-year-old Vlora Han in Istanbul's Sirkeci neighborhood, one of the oldest commercial buildings in the city, is in disrepair and its crumbling exterior attracts experts' attention.

Intense cracks and decay can also be seen in the interior of the building.

With the revival of the economy, industrial production and other activities, the return of locals to the earthquake-hit provinces will accelerate in the coming period, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has said.

A French couple who decided to set off on a world tour by bicycle started from the eastern province of Van in Türkiye and are currently passing by Elazığ.

Undertaking an interesting task, 37-year-old Thomas Jourdain and 33-year-old Marion Belloteau set out on a world tour by bicycle. Aiming to cycle to France, the couple started their journey from Van.

Theologian Cemil Kılıç has been attacked by a radical Islamist group in front of his house in Istanbul's Gaziosmanpaşa district, while Kılıç stated that he had been threatened for a few months.

Announcing the attack on a social media post, Kılıç said that while walking past a mosque, a man came up to him and started to shout saying, "Allahu Akbar."

The 1935 model Cadillac automobile, used by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of modern Türkiye, and exhibited in Anıtkabir for years, has been restored after five years of work.

Lale Alatli fell in love with Greece through rebetiko music. She listened to it with her Greek fellow students while they were studying in Italy. She copied CDs and tapes and by studying the lyrics she started to learn Greek. But in Turkey, where she comes from, she could not find anything Greek at that time. "It was like there was an invisible wall between the two countries," she recalls.

Ekrem İmamoğlu and Mansur Yavaş, mayors of Istanbul and Ankara respectively, will serve as the vice presidents if the Nation Alliance wins the presidential polls, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, the joint candidate of the opposition and Chairman of the Republican People's Party (CHP) stated.

Türkiye will be at a crossroads on May 14 when the millions of voters will cast their votes to elect the president and the Parliament, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has said, adding everyone in the region and in the world is focused on the Turkish elections.