Human geography

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.

The issuance of new building permits for tourist facilities in areas outside town planning on the islands of Mykonos and Santorini has been suspended for one year.

The relevant decision, which was announced 10 days ago, was signed by Deputy Environment Environment Minister Dimitris Economou. 

Germany said on Tuesday it "respects" a Greek government decision to call off this year's Thessaloniki International Fair (TIF) to prevent the spread of the coronavirus in which Germany would have been the honored country.

The blood tests run on a 10-year-old girl who was found in a district of Thessaloniki on Saturday after having gone missing for three days showed traces of psychotropic substances, law enforcement and judicial authorities said on Tuesday.

Heavy rains on June 14 caused some rocks at Istanbul's historical walls to collapse in Fatih district, damaging vehicles passing by them, with no casualties.

Police, firefighters and municipal teams were sent to the area upon notification after the rocks of the 1,600-year-old walls in the city's peninsula collapsed onto two cars.

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.

The printed cards issued to asylum seekers in Greece will be replaced by electronic cards as of October 1, the Migration Ministry announced on Thursday.

Turkey on June 11 criticized the U.S. Department of State's 2019 Report on International Religious Freedom as "written in a language far from objectivity."

Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman Hami Aksoy said in a statement that the report's contents on Turkey included "claims without sources."

The historical Grand Bazaar opened its doors to visitors on June 1 as part of the country's normalization phase, having longed for its old crowded and busy days since being shuttered on March 24.

A driver of a tanker truck died on Wednesday after losing control of his vehicle and crashing into a concrete divider on the Thessaloniki-Athens highway near Pieria in northern Greece.