Black Sea

Hattusha was included in the World Heritage List by UNESCO in 1986 due to the perfect protection of some structures and architectural communities in its ruins. (Photos: Alamy)

Turkey's elderly population has risen by 22.5 percent over the past five years, according to statistics released by the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK) on March 18.

TÜİK stated that the population of people over the age of 65 in Turkey had risen to 7.95 million in 2020, up from 6.49 million in 2015.

Turkey's health minister on Feb. 26 announced the cities in Turkey where over the last week the number of COVID-19 cases rose or fell the most. 

On Twitter, Fahrettin Koca said the cities where the number of cases fell the most per 100,000 people are Bayburt (northeastern Turkey), Erzincan (eastern), Trabzon and Karabük (Black Sea region), and Hatay (southern).

As Turkey plans to start easing COVID-19-releated restrictions gradually in March, a spike in the number of virus cases in five provinces in the country's Black Sea region has caused deep concerns.

The provinces of Ordu, Giresun, Samsun, Trabzon and Rize stand out among all 81 provinces of the country in terms of the spread of the virus.

Turkey will start using gas from the Sakarya Gas Field in the Black Sea in the first quarter of 2023, government sources told Anadolu Agency on Feb. 11. 

A protest entitled "Hands off Bulgarian nature" has gathered dozens of environmentalists in front of the Council of Ministers in the capital Sofia. The specific reason for the public dissatisfaction is the lifting of the ban on construction in the Kamchia protected area on the Black Sea coast.

Global warming has become one of the grave concerns affecting the marine life migration patterns, especially in the Black Sea, where fishes have been observed to have changed their migration routes due to rising water temperatures, according to an expert.

The Eastern Mediterranean region, where east, west, north and south converge, and the birthplace of the three main monotheistic world religions, is, from a geopolitical point of view, a separate subsystem.

More than 20 busts and masks, which were unearthed in the 2,300-year-old Ordu Kurul Castle and estimated to be 2,100 years old, will be exhibited at the Ordu Paşaoğlu Mansion and Ethnography Museum.

Gizem Turan, 31, has become the first woman official to serve in the Directorate General of Coastal Safety assigned with the duty to guide and assist vessels of 250-meters-long or more that pass the Istanbul Strait.

"I am the chief officer of the towing boat called Kurtarma 8, and the only woman working in a tugboat under the Directorate General of Coastal Safety," Turan said.