Demirören News Agency

An armed man took staff hostage at a Procter & Gamble factory in northwestern Turkey on Thursday in an apparent protest against Israel's military campaign in Gaza, the Demiroren News Agency reported.

Opposition Nation Alliance's presidential candidate Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu has described the May 28 runoff voting as a brand new election, calling on the people to get mobilized for bringing a change to the country, and stated he received the messages conveyed by the people to him in the first round of the polls.

A sculpture, which has been selected from 80 works, was placed right next to the Atatürk Cultural Center (AKM) in Istanbul's Taksim Square.

A sculpture competition was held in April last year to enrich the architecture of AKM, which underwent a great restoration work and now welcomes art lovers with its renewed face.

A picture taken with a drone shows a general view over an area with many collapsed buildings after a powerful earthquake in Kahramanmaras, Turkey, 13 February 2023. Photo: EPA-EFE/TOLGA BOZOGLU

Some 13.4 million foreign tourists arrived in Antalya by air last year, marking a 48 percent increase from 2021.

Antalya, on the Mediterranean coast, reached those numbers despite the fallout from the Russian-Ukraine conflict.

The building of a university in Istanbul has collapsed due to a deep foundation pit opened at a construction site nearby, Demirören News Agency has reported.

"The sustaining wall of the construction site fell late on Oct. 23, causing the building of Arel University to collapse in the metropolis' Sefaköy neighborhood," the agency wrote on Oct. 24.

An old Jewish neighborhood in the western province of İzmir, where some nine synagogues exist, will convert into an open museum, says the project's coordinator.

"The region inside the Historical Kemeraltı Bazaar will be a focus of interest of the city's faith and culture tourism," Nesim Bencoya, an expert from the İzmir Jewish Heritage Project, told Demirören News Agency on Oct. 18.

An excavation team has unearthed the exact place of the tomb of Saint Nicholas, also known as "Santa Claus," and the floor on which he walked, inside the St. Nicholas Church in the southern province of Antalya's Demre district.

Security forces have detained seven people convicted over their links to FETÖ while trying to flee to Greece with a speedboat from the western province of İzmir, Demirören News Agency has reported.

Along with the FETÖ suspects, four organizers were also caught, the agency said on Sept. 18.

Famous pop singer Gülşen Bayraktar Çolakoğlu, who came under controversy and is facing trial on charges of "inciting hatred" over her remarks she made about "İmam Hatip" religious schools, has decided to cancel some 50 shows until the new year.