ISTANBUL

Ziya Tasalı, the Turkish citizen accused of murdering U.S. citizen Sarai Sierra in Istanbul early last year, has been sentenced to life in prison.

In addition to the life sentence, the Istanbul court fined Tasalı to five years and 10 months for assault, and two years and six months for theft. 

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has fined Turkey 10,000 euros upon the complaint of a Russian national, who was detained for six months between 2010 and 2011.

Chief of General Staff Gen. Necdet Özel visited President Haşim Kılıç of the Constitutional Court on June 24.

Sources said the meeting was scheduled before the delivery of the top Court’s ruling concerning the Balyoz coup case convicts.

Still, Özel expressed his “extreme pleasure” over the ruling during his meeting with Kılıç, the same sources said.

Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) Istanbul deputy Engin Alan, a Balyoz convict who was released from prison last week, has taken his oath at Parliament, almost three years after being elected as a member of Parliament in June 2011.

Locals in an impoverished neighborhood in Istanbul’s European suburbs have launched a struggle against a cheap synthetic drug that has been spreading in the city over the last few years. The spread of the “Bonzai” drug has resulted in many addiction issues among youths and claimed many victims.

By Dimitris Bouras

The misty, cold universe of American novelist Patricia Highsmith, an invariably complicated, passionate and obsessive world, is once again cast in a Mediterranean light.

An Ankara prosecutor has objected to the release of five suspected police officers detained as part of an investigation into the illegal wiretapping of the prime minister’s office.

The prosecutor’s remarks come just a day after Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan publicly complained about their release.

The Turkish wine sector is suffering from marketing restrictions brought about by new alcohol regulations, as the country’s wine makers continue to lose ground against newcomers in the market such as Georgia, Moldova and Israel.

I am settled in Le Pain Quotidien in Southbank Centre (no typo; when in Britain, you have to do as the Brits do) on a beautiful London Sunday morning.

The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) is proceeding on its “presidency road” without worrying about individual concerns and who will lead the party after the elections, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on June 21.

Speaking to his party’s Istanbul provincial members, Erdoğan said the AKP would continue on its road regardless of who will lead it.