İzmir

A man who drew widespread criticism over a photo which showed him stepping on a Syrian worker's stomach that was captioned "A Turk's revenge on a Syrian" has been detained and sent to court with a demand for his arrest in İzmir, Doğan News Agency has reported.

Culture and Tourism Minister Nabi Avcı has thanked daily Hürriyet for reporting on the poor condition of the Temple of Artemis, saying he gave the necessary orders for the protection of the ancient temple in the Selçuk district of the western province of İzmir. 

The Temple of Artemis in the Selçuk district of İzmir has turned into a swamp because of neglect and a lack of interest by authorities.  

The temple, which is among the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World and on the UNESCO Cultural Heritage List, draws millions of tourists each year. 

Prosecutors have demanded to reverse the judgement of a court in the case of two girls who received at least 10 years in prison over the murder of their mother in the Aegean province of İzmir in 2013. 

Police have seized a rocket launcher for the first time in an operation targeting the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in the Nusaybin district of the southeastern province of Mardin. 

The METİS M1 surface-to-surface and surface-to-air rocket launcher was confiscated along with other ammunition in the same raid. 

Underage girls have been abducted and forced into marriage, while their families have been paid hush money to maintain their silence about the activity in the western province of İzmir's Kiraz district, according to allegations by villagers. Now, however, the town's first woman mayor is attempting to fight back against the tradition, as are some of the liberated kidnapping victims.

Agents from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement have raided a Turkish cargo ship in New Jersey, arresting the ship's first officer and chief engineer on human smuggling claims. 

First officer Özcan Köse, 36, and his brother Oğuz Köse, 35, will be tried in Pennsylvania after having been accused of taking 25,000 dollars each to engage in human smuggling.

Turkey's population saw an increase of over one million compared to last year, reaching 79,814,871 people, the Turkish Statistics Institute announced on Jan. 31.

According to 2016 results from the records of Address Based Population Registration System, males made up 50.2 percent of the total population and females made up 49.8 percent.

A Roman theater, stuck in between shanty towns in the Aegean province of İzmir's Kadifekale, is being expropriated for nearly 12 million Turkish liras with plans to unearth its fascinating 16,000-person capacity. 

It is believed that the theater, where the second century Christian bishop of İzmir St. Polycarp was killed, would be a great center for the world of Christianity. 

Many Japanese companies have recently made investments in the Aegean province of İzmir, which is seen as an opening gate to European, Middle Eastern and North African markets, İzmir Development Agency (İZKA) has said, as reported by state-run Anadolu Agency on Jan. 18.