ISTANBUL

Main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu held a meeting with intellectuals and representatives of religious communities in Istanbul, as part of his meetings to determine a nominee for the presidential elections scheduled for August.

An unprecedented haul of heroin with a street value of around 30 million euros discovered at two sites in Attica on Friday was smuggled by an Istanbul-based gang into Greece via Iran and Turkey, sources told Kathimerini.

Two students facing between 1.5 and 3 years in jail for taking part in last year’s May Day were acquitted by a local court in Istanbul on June 13, after the prosecutor of the case remarkably argued that demonstrating was a “right that could not be subject to any permission by the authorities.”

Central Bank Governor Erdem Başçı, speaking amid intense debates about political interference in the Bank, has insisted that the institution is taking its decisions “independently.”

Turkey’s exports of home-grown television dramas play a key role in wielding “soft power” across the region, a Turkish culture minister has said.

By creating a lasting influence on Turkey’s image in the region, popular dramas are among the country’s most well-known economic and cultural exports, said Turkish Minister of Culture and Tourism Ömer Çelik June 12.

A shopping mall and residence complex is set to be built on a green area located east of the Küçükçekmece Lake, outside Istanbul. The green area is located on the eastern coast of Küçükçekmece Lake near a first degree natural site, the Soğuksu Grove, and is currently used as a football pitch and park.

The Turkish government has replaced more than 2,500 judges and prosecutors, in its latest mass purge in the police and judiciary.

Borusan Contemporary opens the summer with an exclusive exhibition to open on June 14.

Turkey on June 12 held the first hearing in the trial of more than 26 members of the Taksim Solidarity Platform, a process Amnesty International denounced as a "show trial."

Twenty-six members of Taksim Solidarity Platform went on trial on June 12 in Turkey, accused of organising last year's demonstrations in what Amnesty International denounced as a "show trial."