Sirnak

Turkey has recorded 37,303 new coronavirus cases in the space of just 24 hours, the highest number since the beginning of the pandemic more than a year ago, health ministry data showed on March 30.

The government said on March 29 it would tighten restrictions on movement and gatherings because of rising infections, less than a month after easing them.

A southeastern Turkish city that has been for years overshadowed by terrorism, wants to become a tourist hub with its historical and cultural riches. 

The COVID-19 outbreak worsened within a week across Turkey, leaving only one province in the low-risk category.

According to the weekly cases' data for March 13 and March 19, the number of provinces classified as high-risk increased to 39 from the previous week's 25.

Turkey's health minister announced early on March 16 infection rates of the novel coronavirus across Turkey's 81 provinces on March 6-12 as part of a new weekly initiative.

"Normalization can be possible by following the measures," Fahrettin Koca said on Twitter, sharing the statistics.

The Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) has successfully completed its four-day Operation Claw-Eagle 2 and cleared Gara region of Northern Iraq of PKK elements, Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said Feb. 14, adding that PKK terrorists killed 13 unarmed Turkish citizens that they were held hostage since 2015.

A bookmobile is providing access to knowledge and learning for residents in southeastern Şırnak province amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The mobile library has bookshelves, seats where students can sit and read, three laptops and internet service. It offers service to people living in rural areas who do not have access to a library.

With access to hundreds of villages blocked due to thick snow in eastern Turkey, residents of those villages have resort to pass their times by playing a Van-style baseball game known as "topa garane" during harsh winter conditions.

A jerboa, an endangered species red-listed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN), has been spotted in the southeastern province of Şırnak's Uludere district.

An agricultural engineer in the eastern province of Şırnak has advised the unemployed people to breed Californian worms, telling that he produces three tones of worm fertilizer a month by only working an hour a day.

"Breeding worms and making worm fertilizer is an effortless job," said Abdulmutalip Kocaman.

Turkish security forces "neutralized" at least nine PKK terrorists in northern Iraq, the Defense Ministry announced on Aug. 15.

Three of the terrorists were neutralized in air-backed operations in Haftanin, and another six terrorists in the Zap and Avasin regions, the ministry said on Twitter.