ISTANBUL

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.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has slammed the Gezi Park protesters on the eve of the anniversary of last year's massive demonstrations, while criticizing Twitter and Facebook on May 30.

Azeri state oil company SOCAR has signed a $3.29 billion financing deal with 23 banks and export credit agencies for the construction of a refinery on Turkey’s Aegean coast, SOCAR’s Turkish subsidiary Petkim said on May 30.

Nine activists have been detained in a protest staged by Greenpeace Mediterranean against the Nuclear Plants Summit in Istanbul on May 30.

The activists had hung a 28 square-meter poster carrying the words “Nuclear disaster starts here” on the outside wall of the hotel in Şişli where the summit was held, and greeted attendees with the same poster at the building’s entrance.

Police tear gas has claimed another victim as a 64-year-old woman who was sent into a coma by police during a crackdown in Istanbul last December passed away May 30.

Elif Çermik spent 159 in coma after a heart attack she sustained due to the effects of tear gas, doctors said.

Four of 11 suspects who were sent to court after anti-terror raids on May 26 in Istanbul’s Okmeydanı neighborhood were arrested late May 29 on charges of “committing crimes on behalf of a terrorist organization.”

The Turkish Agriculture Ministry has permitted the production and sale of foods that have genetically-modified organism (GMO) contaminants with a regulation that triggered reactions from specialists, who dubbed the move as illegal and dangerous.

The Turkish Agriculture Ministry has permitted the production and sale of foods that have genetically-modified organism (GMO) contaminants with a regulation that triggered reactions from specialists, who dubbed the move as illegal and dangerous.

Serkan Demirtaş serkan.demirtas@hdn.com.tr Revising Internet policies and continuing necessary economic and political reforms are in the interests of Turkey, Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt has suggested, stressing that the country’s only path forward is through Europe.

The 42nd Istanbul Music Festival, organized by the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (İKSV) under the sponsorship of Borusan Holding, will meet music lovers between May 31 and June 27. This year’s festival will be held with the theme “The Song of Nature.”