Geography

A total of 788,241 people have visited the Çamlıca Tower, a telecommunications tower with observation decks and restaurants, in Istanbul's Üsküdar district, since its official opening in May 2021, the country's transport and infrastructure minister has said.

"The tower hosted 455,945 people between Jan. 1 and Aug. 20, 2022," Adil Karaismailoğlu said in a written statement on Aug. 21.

As tourists flock to Greenland to take in its breathtaking icebergs and natural beauty, authorities are mulling ways to control crowds to protect the fragile environment, already threatened by global warming.

Photo: BIRN

BIRN's reporter followed the participants all the way along the route of this year's Peace March, and posted regular updates, photos, videos and other content on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter as the march progressed.

Photo: BIRN

With its ghost towns and armed men taking on a vast wilderness, one could almost mistake the Svalbard archipelago for the Wild West.

But a tiny Arctic police force on these islands halfway between Norway and the North Pole keeps outlaws - and polar bear botherers - at bay.

A British citizen was sentenced on June 6 by an Iraqi court to 15 years in prison on charges of smuggling artifacts out of the country, in a case that has attracted international attention.

The verdict handed down to retired geologist Jim Fitton, shocked the court in Baghdad, including his defense attorney. He and his family have argued that Fitton, 66, had no criminal intent.

By Andreas Andrianopoulos*

This dance around the maypole of the Greek-Turkish rivalry with threats and at times more tense relations - with many foreigners, allies and others, at various times playing the role of mediators or agents for the defusion of tensions - cannot continue.

The occupancy rate of the hotels in the eastern province of Van has hit 100 percent as Iranians have thronged the city with the start of a national three-day holiday in their country.

"Some 5,000 Iranians entered on the first day of their holiday," Yunus Yüksel, the board chair of the Van Hotel Owners and Tourism Professionals Association, told Demirören News Agency on June 5.

The positions of the two Greek tankers that have been seized by the Iranian authorities were announced by the website TankerTrackers.com.

The Greek tanker Prudent Warrior is anchored in the port of Bandar Abbas in Iran, while the Delta Poseidon is located north of the island of Larak, according to a post by TankerTrackers.com on Twitter.

Turkish foreign ministry "strongly condemned and rejected the unfounded" statements made by the German Chancellery against Turkey.

"Instead of making biased statements that do not comply with the spirit of the Alliance, we expect Germany to invite Greece to act in accordance with international treaties," Foreign Minister Spokesperson Tanju Bilgiç said.

Home to polar bears, the midnight sun and the northern lights, a Norwegian archipelago perched high in the Arctic is trying to find a way to profit from its pristine wilderness without ruining it.