ISTANBUL

The hike in housing prices is well above the average inflation, according to Central Bank data, whereas dramatic falls in sales, especially in mortgaged sales, are being experienced as investors are irritated by the falling demand and increased interest rates Housing construction has been a significant tool in the rise of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government.

Just toward the anniversary of the Gezi protests, a message popped into my mailbox. It wrote “Food not Bombs.” To my astonishment, they were already going to have their 14th event. Food not bombs-Istanbul is a movement started by a group of like-minded youngsters who cannot stand the thought of wasting food when there are starving people.

May 31 marked the first anniversary of the Gezi protests with a plethora of events online and onsite in parks across the country. Facebook events, timelines and compilations online were accompanied by the revival of the Gezi forums, the screening of an anticipated documentary in parks and more

The Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, Nils Muiznieks, has expressed his indignation after Turkish police’s brutal handling of the demonstrations marking the anniversary of Gezi protests May 31, condemning the “excessive use of violence.”

Turkish authorities kept up with heavy-handed security measures despite international attention during the May 31 demonstrations to mark the anniversary of last year's Gezi Park protests.

The police will by no means give way to Gezi demonstrations at Istanbul’s Taksim square today, as they were clearly ordered to do so, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said only hours before a planned anniversary meeting. 

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has urged young Turks to ignore calls to mark the first anniversary of Istanbul's Taksim Square protests, Saturday.

Thousands of police officers and dozens of water cannon trucks are to be deployed to the square, according to media reports.

Istanbul is on alert ahead of the first anniversary of the massive Gezi protests May 31 as calls were made for street action in the flashpoint area of Taksim Square, which was the heart of last year’s demonstrations.

In its latest measure, the Istanbul police have canceled all holidays and increased the shifts of police officers to 12 hours until a second order.

This time a year ago, Turkey was experiencing its largest ever wave of civil protests, following the government’s strong reaction to protesters who did not want a shopping mall to be built over one of the last remaining green spots at the heart of Istanbul: Gezi Park in Taksim Square.

Coal was discovered in the Ottoman Empire relatively lately, but administrators soon started extracting it in a move toward industrialization Sometime before 1829, Sultan Mahmud II (r. 1808-1839) sent forth a decree throughout all the lands of the Ottoman Empire offering to award anyone who could discover coal.