Melda Onur

The municipality of Yalova has caused an uproar after cutting over 150 trees in the city center for the construction of an overpass Nov. 27.

The decision has sent the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), which won the municipality in the March 30 local elections after a very tight race that included a vote recount, into soul-searching over its urban policies.

A former prime minister from the 1990s was incidentally seen on the sidelines of the demonstration venue The mothers of people who have disappeared mainly at the hands of the state in recent decades, known as the “Saturday Mothers,” met for the 500th time Oct. 25 since their first gathering in the mid-1990s.

 Turkey has also caught up with the global trend of the “ice bucket challenge,” with politicians and business supremos joining the fun with the aim of raising awareness of Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).

Two of Turkey’s opposition parties Aug. 13 gave support to two mothers who demanded the cancellation or delay of their sentences to prevent their children from being jailed with them.

A Turkish NGO that advocates for the prevention of murders targeting women has filed a criminal complaint against Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç for his suggestion last week that women should not laugh in public.