Samsun

A number of flights to and from Istanbul are canceled today because of the bad weather in the area, Turkish television CNN Turk said.

"Genes give us the gun, while the environment pulls the trigger," the prominent US epidemiologist Devra Davis told Kathimerini in an exclusive interview ahead of her speech at a conference titled "Dramatic Changes on the Planet and the Greek Roots of Ecological Ethics," which took place at the University of Patra in southwestern Greece from June 17 to 20.

Greek President Prokopis Pavlopoulos received athletes who took part in the 23rd Deaflympics in Samsun, Turkey, in July, as well as the president of the Hellenic Federation of Sports for the Deaf, Iosif Stavrakakis, at the Presidential Mansion in Athens on Monday. The games hosted 3,000 athletes from 97 states.

Until the coming to office of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) in 2002, one can fairly say that Turkey's national days, putting aside Oct. 29 Republic Day, had basically turned into occasions for holidays, rather than special days when people celebrated Republican values.

Turkey celebrated one of its most meaningful national days on May 19, Youth and Sports Day, marking the 98th anniversary of the beginning of the Turkish War of Independence after Mustafa Kemal Atatürk headed from allied-occupied Istanbul to Samsun on the Black Sea coast in 1919. 

Turkey celebrated Atatürk, Youth and Sports Day on May 19, with various events in the capital Ankara and around the country. 

Turkey's State Opera and Ballet General Directorate is suffering from a big financial crisis and is taking a number of measures to try to make savings and recover, daily. 

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the Industrial Development Bank of Turkey (TSKB) will jointly provide 6 million euros ($6.3 million) of financing to a major Turkish flour producer, the EBRD said Feb. 20.        

Istanbul police have detained 45 people in an operation against two suspected mafia organizations after collecting information that the two gangs were on the eve of major clashes. 

Explosives and ammunition were found close to an armed police checkpoint on a road connecting the Turkish capital of Ankara to the coastal city of Samsun, the local governor's office said on Feb. 25.