Geography of Turkey

Botter Han, one of the remarkable architectural structures located on Istanbul's Istiklal Street and the first example of the art nouveau movement in the city, will be restored in line with an initiative taken by local authorities.

In line with a project, a "hidden chapel" unearthed during the restoration of the Sümela Monastery, one of Turkey's religious tourism centers in the northern province of Trabzon, will be revived.

The Turkish State Meteorological Service has declared a yellow warning for 22 provinces, including Istanbul and Ankara, for heavy rains expected this week while calling on people to take precautions.

In line with Turkey's comprehensive sea cleaning effort to clear up mucilage from the Marmara Sea, the Environment and Urbanization Ministry have temporarily closed a fertilizer factory in the northwestern province of Balıkesir's Bandırma district after footage showing the factory discharging untreated wastewater into the sea went viral on social media and triggered a public outcry.

Details emerged on June 13 of the first bridge to be built over Turkey's Canal Istanbul, a planned mega-project connecting the Sea of Marmara to the Black Sea, aiming to take pressure off the crowded Bosphorus Strait.

The ponds and meanders of eastern Erzurum province's Aşkale district enchant onlookers. (AA Photo)

With a mission to promote the traditional art of handmade İznik tiles, which disappeared 400 years ago without a trace, the İznik Foundation has been making efforts to keep the art alive by producing these exceptional pieces of work in its workshop in İznik.

These tiles are produced with original recipes from 600 years ago with traditional production methods.

Within the scope of a research project that lasted three years, a Turkish historian toured the historical peninsula of Istanbul and explored underwater cisterns, aqueducts, wells and fountains.

"We scanned the mysterious remains under the Topkapı Palace, the Hagia Sophia and the Hagia Irene as we toured around the places with a boat," Arzu Ulaş told Demirören News Agency on June 12.

A loggerhead sea turtle tracked by satellite ended up in the Northern African country of Tunisia following a nearly 300-day journey across the Mediterranean starting in Turkey, over 3,000 kilometers (1,864 miles) away, Turkish scientists found.

A parliamentary decision on the establishment of a commission to investigate the causes of the mucilage problem in Turkish seas and to determine measures to be taken has been published in the Official Gazette.