Culture Ministry

Montenegro is moving to reform its Freedom of Information Act, increasing the penalties and the number of offences that can be sanctioned for violating the law on public records.

A  new cultural center and a historic building once owned by a Scottish family in the Aegean province of ?zmir, dubbed Paterson Mansion, as an adjacent art center are set to open their doors in the Ageean city of ?zmir. 

Bulgaria's Culture Ministry said on Friday it had warned local authorities in Plovdiv against the demolition or other actions affecting an old tobacco warehouse, which was bulldozed last weekend, prompting public outcry.

US film director Ted Kotcheff, who is on a visit to Bulgaria for Sofia Film Fest events, on Friday said he would start work on a movie dedicated to the fate of Bulgarian King Boris III (1918-1943).

Kotcheff, who was awarded a Golden Age order by the Culture Ministry on the same day, was also shown in front of reporters a government decision grantinghim Bulgarian citizenship.

The demolition of an old building once used to store tobacco in Plovdiv, Bulgaria's second-largest city, has topped the domestic news agenda for several days.

The restoration of the historic Grand Bazaar in Istanbul's Fatih district is ready to take off, as a five-year-long renovation project in the centuries-old covered market has reached an end. 

During his official visit to Ivory Coast, President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an said Turkey "will share our experience in urbanization with Ivory Coast." These words were reflected in pro-government newspaper headlines as "We will teach urbanism to Ivory Coast."

A Turkish imam who hit headlines as a "rocking imam" after co-founding a rock band has been denied permission to perform a concert in Portugal by Turkey's Directorate of Religious Affairs (Diyanet).

A team of Turkish archeologists are set to unearth a lost underwater island off the coast of Istanbul.        

Vordonosi was an island in the Byzantine-era, but it now lies under Turkey's Marmara Sea.        

Dissident Chinese artist Ai Weiwei said he would withdraw from two exhibitions in Denmark to protest against an asylum law passed by parliament that included rules on confiscating valuables from migrants to help pay for their stay. 

His decision is the latest in a cultural backlash against Denmark which on Jan. 26 passed the measures aimed at deterring refugees from seeking asylum.