Turkey

I??l E?rikavuk isil.egrikavuk@hdn.com.tr Turkey is not a country well known for its creativity. If I ask readers of this newspaper to name three aspects of Turkey, most probably anything related to creativity won't make it to the list.

Watching Tuesday?s swearing-in ceremony for newly elected deputies, one could not help thinking that this is a parliament which truly represents the ?New Turkey,? and not the one the Justice and Development Party (AKP) talked about when it held the parliamentary majority and called the shots.

Ladies, 

Turkey?s newly-elected 98 female parliamentarians who have taken their oaths as of June 23,

Don?t forget you are women. 

You don?t have to think and act like a man in what you might perceive to be a male-dominated world.

I am not sure whether you have entered parliament saying you will only represent women.

It is a shame the European Union, which is made up of 28 countries, is discussing how to distribute 20,000 Syrian refugees, when Turkey hosts around 2 million, the European Parliament?s rapporteur on Turkey said. 

Award-winning Armenian jazz pianist Tigran Hamasyan performed a concert on June 23 outside the Akdamar Church on the historical Akdamar Island in the eastern province of Van.

The concert on Akdamar Island was "vigorous," said Tamar Nalc?, the project coordinator at Anadolu Kültür (Anatolian Culture), a non-profit cultural institution that organized Hamasyan's concerts in Turkey.

The oath-taking ceremony at Turkey’s parliament witnessed some interesting moments, including a possible hint at the country’s new government. Here are the photos by Hürriyet's Selahattin Sönmez

Foreign direct investment (FDI) into Turkey was $12.1 billion in 2014, making the country the 22nd most popular spot for investors in the world, while the country is expected take in another $12 billion this year, said Ahmet Erdem, head of the International Investors Association (YASED), in a joint meeting with the United Nation's Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) on June 24. 

An Istanbul court issued a ruling on June 24 to survey the scene where Gezi victim Mehmet Ayval?ta? died after being hit by a vehicle during a march in support for the 2013 Gezi Park demonstrations. The survey is set to be held at 1:30 p.m. on Oct. 14, 2015.

The Çatalhöyük Archaeology Workshop, organized in the Neolithic age settlement of Çatalhöyük, will take place between June 27 and July 30 this year. According to a statement by Shell Turkey, which has been supporting the archaeological activities in the ancient city since 1995, it will provide support to the research project of Standford University this year, too. 

A tender for the link roads within the scope of the Northern Marmara Highway project, which includes the under-construction third bridge over the Bosphorus, has been postponed yet again, as the interested parties need more time to finalize their proposals, according to an announcement by the General Directorate of Highways.