Historical geography

A second exhibition featuring a selection of the awarded photographs at the international news photography competition Istanbul Photo Awards 2020 opened on Nov. 27 in Istanbul.

The exhibition, organized by Turkey's state-run Anadolu Agency with the sponsorship of Turkish Airlines (THY), will run for a month at Sabiha Gökçen International Airport.

The Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality's proposal to roll out 6,000 new taxi licenses has been rejected once again by the decision of the city's transportation coordination body.

The proposal of the municipality was put on the agenda for the third time at the Transportation Coordination Center (UKOME) meeting held at the Istanbul Congress Center on Nov. 26.

The main causes of nearly 18,000 fires that occurred in the first 10 months of 2020 in Istanbul were cigarette butts and electrical short circuits, according to data from the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality.

The number of fires in 2020 decreased by 7 percent compared to the same period of the previous year, the report said.

Turkey welcomed some 11.2 million foreign visitors during the first 10 months of 2020, the country's Culture and Tourism Ministry said on Nov. 23.

During lockdowns and travel restrictions worldwide due to the pandemic, the number of foreigners visiting the country posted a decline by around 72.5% on a yearly basis, the ministry data showed.

"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."

Taxi license plate prices in the city decreased by nearly 10 percent following the announcement of a plan to increase the number of taxis operating in Istanbul, the country's largest metropolis with a population of over 16 million.

In Turkey, 434,757 residential properties were sold in the first five months of 2020, the country's statistical authority announced on June 15.

Housing sales dropped 2.2% or 9,684 units in the five-month period, compared to the same period last year, according to the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK) data.

Istanbul's residents have started showing interest in beaches at close distances on weekends as the summer season arrives and temperatures turn hot amid normalization.

Israel's ambassador to Romania, David Saranga, while on a two-day official visit to Iasi, attended this Friday a ceremony at the Jewish Cemetery for the commemoration of the pogrom victims, the Embassy said in a release.

Istanbul must be a candidate for the 2032 Summer Olympics and the Turkish megacity should not give up until that is accomplished, a sports executive said on June 7.