Istanbul

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an has used the Savarona, the official yacht of the founder of the Turkish Republic, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, for the first time ever to host a foreign leader.

It took less than a year for a Turkish court to block the website of the country's first official atheism association.

Turkey's stock exchange Borsa Istanbul said yesterday it plans to go public, in Ankara's latest move to bolster its $220 billion equity market that has punched below its weight for years.

Borsa Istanbul, the country's only stock exchange, plans to list up to 43 percent of its capital through the sale of most of the shares now held by the national Treasury.

Prime Minister Ahmet Davuto?lu has announced an estimated $3.5 billion mega-project for a three-level sub-sea tunnel under Istanbul's Bosphorus Strait, which will connect the city's two sides with one railway and two highways, cutting travel times to 14 minutes.

A ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) deputy has caused consternation by retweeting an insulting post about former President ?smet ?nönü, one of the founders of the Turkish Republic, triggering reactions even from her own fellow party members.

Plovdiv has entered a list of the most attractive cities to live in according to the ranking of the tourist website It's bohemian.

The website listed six of the most inspiring places where one could live for a while in no particular order.

Prominent Turkish journalist Can Dündar was present at the Istanbul Ça?layan Courthouse on Feb. 26 to testify on charges of ?insulting? President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an.

Before entering the courthouse, Dündar dismissed the use of lawsuits as a deterrent against journalists, who he vowed would ?not be intimidated and would continue to write.?  

A ceremony to remember the sinking of the Struma vessel, in which 764 Jews died in the Black Sea while trying to escape the Holocaust, was held in Istanbul Feb. 24.

One worker died on Feb. 23 after falling through an elevator shaft at a construction site in Istanbul, located next to the construction site of Torunlar Center, where 10 workers were killed in a workplace accident last September.

Kanal Istanbul, one of the planned giant projects in the city?s pipeline pushed by the government and President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an, will be a canal 43 kilometers long and 400 meters wide with six bridges, according to sources.