Culture and Tourism Ministry

More than 23 million foreign tourists visited Türkiye in January-July, marking a robust 128 percent increase from a year ago, data from Culture and Tourism Ministry has shown.

A 5,000-year-old marble idol has come to light during works carried out in the Yeşilova and Yassıtepe mounds in the Aegean province of İzmir's Bornova district.

Following President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's statement that the government is extending efforts to meet Alevi-Bektashi citizens' demands, local media has alleged that five regulations will be made for cemevis, Alevi houses of worship.

Some 16,000 libraries have been established across the country in two months, said the education minister.

Speaking at the opening ceremony of the library in a high school in the capital Ankara, named after psychiatrist Erol Göka, Education Minister Mahmut Özer said that 16,361 schools that did not have a library have been provided with libraries in the last two months.

Istanbul's Fener Greek Patriarch Bartholomew led a mass at the historic Sümela Monastery in the Black Sea province of Trabzon on Aug. 15.

Every Aug. 15, Christians celebrate the Feast of Assumption, a holy day marking the occasion of the Virgin Mary's bodily ascent to heaven at the end of her life.

As sanctions imposed on Moscow amid the war in Ukraine hits its aviation sector, Russia is now preparing to launch cruise ship tours to Türkiye this month.

The Astoria Grande cruise ship will hold tours from the Russian city of Sochi in the Black Sea to Istanbul starting mid-July.

The number of books published in the first six months of 2022 in Türkiye was 90,149, the Culture and Tourism Ministry has said, noting that the number of books published increased by 1.6 percent compared with the same period of last year.

Around 165,691 applications have been received from 171 countries for "Türkiye Scholarships," a government-funded higher education scholarship program for international students, Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy has announced.

Foreign tourist arrivals in Antalya, one of Türkiye's major holiday destinations, increased by 133 percent in June from a year ago to nearly 1.9 million people, official data have shown.

Foreign tourist visits to the Mediterranean province have been rising steadily since the start of the year as countries eased travel restrictions after the COVID-19 outlook improved.

Discovered 140 years ago and taken to England from Türkiye, the Eros Head was put in its place at the Istanbul Archaeology Museum as a result of the initiatives of the Culture and Tourism Ministry.

The artifact, which was brought to Türkiye on June 10, was reunited with the historical Sidamara Sarcophagus to which it belonged.