Geography of Turkey

Local authorities in Istanbul have imposed a ban on battery electric vehicles on Princes' Islands, a cluster of nine islands in the Marmara Sea, in a bid to curb increasing accidents involving the vehicles and unauthorized parking at pedestrian-only venues.

The ban will come into force starting from Oct. 5 with exceptions for permanent residents who are below the age of 66.

Works for the "Lycia-Kaş Underwater Art Park," where replicas of smuggled historical Lycian civilization artifacts will be exhibited under the sea in the southern province of Antalya's Kaş district, will be finished soon.

The Culture and Tourism Ministry and the Turkish Tourism Development and Promotion Agency (TGA) have introduced the Stone Hills, which host the first examples of settled life and social communities in the world, at an event held at the Şanlıurfa Museum.

The opening ceremony of the "Karahantepe and Neolithic Man" exhibition was also held during the event.

As Turkey has been under the deep effects of drought due to global warming and misuse of existent water sources, a new climate report submitted to the Turkish Parliament emphasizes that the situation might worsen over time.

Some 10 planes carrying nearly 1,500 British tourists have arrived in Turkey's southwestern Muğla province since the U.K. removed Turkey from its COVID-19 travel red list, an official said on Sept. 24. 

Starting Wednesday, Britons are traveling to Turkey without compulsory hotel quarantine upon return, a move which eases travel and tourism between the two countries.

Tourists visiting Turkey's Afyonkarahisar province had the chance to fly over the ancient Phrygian Valley with hot air balloons. (AA Photo)

Heavy downpour created a ruckus in Istanbul, Turkey's largest metropolis with 16 million population, causing heavy congestion on roads as traffic density in the city reached 71 percent in the early hours of Sept. 23.

A farmer who grew a watermelon weighing 45.5 kilograms has won the 11th Watermelon Festival organized in the southeastern province of Diyarbakır, famous for its big and juicy watermelons.

"Due to drought, unfortunately, this year farmers could not grow bigger watermelons," Münir Karaloğlu, the governor of the province, said at the prize-giving ceremony on Sept. 22.

In an effort to promote an exchange of culinary culture between Moldova and Turkey, members of the UNESCO Turkish National Committee and a Moldovan delegation have come to Turkey's southwestern province of Afyonkarahisar to take delight in the region's world-famous gastronomic heritage.

A local man who got stuck inside a historic cannon he entered for a photo was rescued by emergency teams, getting what he wants eventually in an unusual way: Lots of photos taken while he was in a cannon.