Turkey

There has been intense speculation for days about whether President Tayyip Erdo?an plans to announce the reopening of the Hagia Sophia to Islamic worship, ahead of Turkey?s critical parliamentary election on June 7.

An election campaign truck of the main opposition Republican People?s Party (CHP) has been prevented from entering a city square in the eastern province of Erzurum, Do?an News Agency reported on May 29.

Turkey?s largest state-owned bank, Ziraat Bank, has launched its first branch for Islamic finance in Istanbul.

?This is a historic step. Other state-owned banks should follow Ziraat?s move,? President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an said on May 29  during the opening ceremony in the Eminönü neighborhood, referring to Vakifbank and Halk Bank. 

The Turkish Armed Forces have formed a new ceremonial brigade, dressed as Ottoman soldiers, to attend events marking the 562nd anniversary of the Turks? conquest of Istanbul, upon the instructions of President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an.

The Finance and Advice for Women in Business Program, funded by the European Union, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the Republic of Turkey, was introduced to local women-led businesses in the Central Anatolian city of Kayseri on May 28.

Turkish prosecutors have launched an investigation into daily Cumhuriyet over its May 29 story on Syria-bound trucks belonging to the National Intelligence Organization (M?T), which were stopped and searched by soldiers last year.

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is entering exclusive negotiations to acquire a 10 percent stake in Borsa Istanbul, in a landmark deal which will support Turkey's efforts to reshape its capital markets, the EBRD has said in a statement.

Taksim Solidarity, a collective organization of several rights groups and NGOs at the center of the Gezi Park protests of 2013, called for a march to the central Istanbul park on May 31, the date marking the second anniversary of the mass protests that sent shockwaves through the country.

The US military has started training Syrian opposition fighters in Turkey to combat the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), an expected expansion of a program that first launched in Jordan weeks ago, a US official told Reuters on May 28. 

Former Energy Minister Hilmi Güler said it was through head hunters that he became a board member of Turkey's Tekstilbank, a majority stake of which was acquired by China's Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC).