Central Anatolia Region

Winter tourism needs to be diversified in Cappadocia, which is famous for fairy chimneys, rock-carved boutique hotels, underground cities and natural rock formations, according to local tourism representatives.

The number of tourists visiting the Ihlara Valley, one of the most important routes of Cappadocia in the Central Anatolian province of Aksaray, increased by 12 percent to 491,380 last year compared to 2014. 

The Ihlara Valley is a site of stunning natural beauty and is home to a series of ancient Christian churches and frescoes tucked away in stone caves. 

Sports and politics have never been two separate issues, especially in a country such as Turkey. After 13 years of one-party rule, the influence of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) on Turkish sports is ever obvious.

Football, the most popular sport in the country - and the world - was of course the focus of the AKP's attention.

Thirteenth-century mystic Mevlana Jalaladdin Rumi was celebrated on the 742nd anniversary of his death in the Central Anatolian province of Konya

Some 45,000 Christians who fled Syria and Iraq are forced to hide their religious identity in the Turkish provinces of Yozgat, Aksaray and Çorum. 

As part of the 50th anniversary of the Middle East Technical University (METU) Alumni Association, a workshop titled "Hititology in the 100th Year of the Hittite Language" will be held on Dec. 20 at the university's Vi?nelik campus between 10 a.m. and 7 p.m. 

Continuing excavations in an extinct volcano in the Central Anatolian province of Karaman have unearthed a unique pyramidal mausoleum and a temple. 

Karaman Museum Director Abdülbari Y?ld?z said excavation and cleaning works had been continuing at the De?le and Maden?ehri villages in the skirts of Karada? Mountain since 2014. 

An underground city found in Turkey's touristic Cappadocia will "rewrite the history of the city," according to the mayor in the Central Anatolian Nev?ehir province, adding they had discovered people had permanently lived in the underground city, unlike other cities which were mostly carved into rocks for temporary protection.

Nevşehir in Central Anatolia, which is home to the Fairy Chimneys of Cappadocia, continues to attract tourists from around the globe with a new addition to its list of must-see sights: a massive underground city thought to date back 5,000 years

Three rock-carved inns in Cappadocia have turned into a mud bath facility, with the aim of creating a different tourism alternative in the region Turkey's first rock-carved underground mud bath will serve in the Cappadocia region, as local inns, which served as lemon storage facilities in the past, have been reorganized into an new tourist attraction.