Latest News from Turkey
1,700-year-old ‘Little Hagia Sophia’ enchants visitors
Turkey's Little Hagia Sophia, a church which was converted into a mosque, received thousands of tourists every year prior to the pandemic.
The architectural marvel situated in the Güzelyurt district of central Aksaray province was built by Roman Emperor Theodosius I for Saint Gregorius Theologos in 385 CE.
Bird sanctuary finally welcomes its wayworn guests
Hosting one of Turkey's largest bird sanctuaries, the Kızılırmak Delta in northern Samsun province welcomed back its wayworn aliferous guests with the arrival of spring.
Hundreds of birds arrived at the delta to claim one of the dozens of nests at the sanctuary to spend the season and to breed with their mates.
Turkey expects up to $25 billion in tourism revenues this year
Turkey expects $20 billion to $25 billion in tourism revenues this year, the head of a prominent sectoral group said on April 5.
Tourists, mostly from Russia and Ukraine, have started to arrive in Turkish resorts and visits will accelerate from mid-April, said Firuz Bağlıkaya, the head of the Association of Turkish Travel Agencies (TÜRSAB).
EU: We will defend the interests of Greece and Cyprus against Turkey
The head of the EU and EC met with Turkish President Erdogan
CHP leader criticizes govt’s handling of economy
The main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu has criticized the government for its management of the economy, saying that small businesses were suffering the most during the pandemic.
Small businesses pay the price of the government's mismanagement, he said while addressing his party members at the parliament on April 6.
European Leaders Seek to Resume Dialogue with Turkey
The European Union's top two officials will pay a rare visit on Tuesday to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan aimed at testing his avowed commitment to improve uneasy ties.
Years of disagreements over a growing list of issues threatened to boil over last summer when Turkey sent navy ships to support an energy exploration mission in waters claimed by EU members Cyprus and Greece.
Experts expect further rise in virus cases in coming weeks
Experts are expecting the daily number of COVID-19 cases to further rise in the coming weeks, probably hitting somewhere between 50,000 to 60,000 infections before starting to decline.
Since the start of April, Turkey has been logging more than 40,000 daily cases, prompting the government to reintroduce full weekend lockdowns in very-high-risk provinces.
Turkey's e-commerce volume jumps 66 pct in 2020
The volume of e-commerce in Turkey jumped 66 percent year-on-year to 226.2 billion Turkish liras ($32 billion) in 2020, the country's trade minister announced on April 6.
"E-commerce spending to gross domestic product (GDP) ratio reached 4.1 percent in 2020, a rise of 51.8 percent from a year ago," Ruhsar Pekcan told a news conference held in the capital Ankara.
Turkey jails four over bombing that killed German tourists
A Turkish court on April 6 sentenced four men to life in jail over a 2016 suicide bombing in the heart of Istanbul that killed 12 German tourists and was blamed on ISIL.
The blast ripped through Istanbul's historic Sultanahmet square in January 2016 - near the iconic Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia, among the world's most visited tourist sites.