Edirne

Turkey attracted 12.03 million foreign visitors in the first 11 months of 2020, the country's Culture and Tourism Ministry said on Dec. 25. 

The figures fell 71.95% year-on-year in the January-November period from 42.9 million, the official data showed, as expected, due to the COVID-19 pandemic and measures to stem it.

Abdulharis Pasha of Strandzha, a mountainous region that straddles modern-day Turkey and Bulgaria, was the son of an Ottoman lord.

He joined the Ottoman army as a commander during the 16th Century siege of Vienna, and was made a pasha to combat Balkan bandits - although later he went on to become a bandit himself.

Welcoming the winters and celebrating the season's first snowfall after a year filled with drought, locals in Turkey's northwestern province of Edirne could not hold their excitement and joyously danced together.

The locals who are reported to be working at the Hamzabeyli Border Gate became a subject of entertainment as they danced merrily in the snow.

An old train station and a black train in the northwestern province of Edirne has been roping in the attention of shutterbugs and local tourists with its intriguing architecture, historical ambiance, rustic appearance that reflects a movie set, and many other unique features.

"Sixty or seventy per cent of our customers are now Bulgarians," says Yilmaz Sanis, president of the Association of the Historic Ali Pasa Bazaar in Edirne, Thrace, and owner of a shoe shop in the bazaar.

"They contribute to the market a lot," he told BIRN. "It is a great advantage for Thrace at a time when our jobs are suffering from economic conditions, and the pandemic."

Edirnekari, an art of wood carving and decorating, which has been carried out by resident craftsmen in the northwestern province of Edirne for nearly 500 years, has been passed down many generations with a master-apprentice tradition.

Two bibles believed to be 500 years old have been found in a police operation in the northwestern province of Edirne, the local governor's office has said.

An anti-smuggling team seized the two bibles in a shoebox in a car driving towards the Greek border in the district of Uzunköprü, the Edirne Governor's Office said.

"The number of visitors and tourism revenue in Turkey decreased during the first quarter because of the effects of the coronavirus pandemic, officials statistics showed on April 30. 

The number of visitors declined 67.83% to 718,097 in March, compared to a year ago, according to Turkey's Culture and Tourism Ministry.

The demolition of a statue located on the busiest street in the northwestern province of Edirne has sparked a debate among the residents of the city, which borders Greece and Bulgaria.
Saraçlar Street, which is the busiest street of the city, was closed to traffic in 2008 and a statue called Sevda Çeşmesi (Love Fountain) was erected in the middle of the street a year later.

Turkey welcomed 4.24 million foreign visitors in the first quarter of 2020, the country's Culture and Tourism Ministry said on April 30. 

The number of foreigners visiting the country dropped by 22.1% on a yearly basis in the quarter, the ministry data showed.

After the COVID-19 pandemic, which originated in China last December, tourism and aviation sectors took a backseat