Urla, İzmir

Education Minister Mahmut Özer has attended the inauguration ceremony of 1,500 village life centers, stating that the ministry has prioritized their projects about improving education in the country's villages.

With Turkey lifting nationwide curfews and lockdowns as of July 1, local tourists have been flocking to some of the well-known tourism hubs in the Aegean region, giving a sigh of relief to the badly hit tourism industry that closed down for one and a half years during the pandemic.

Turkey rescued at least 109 asylum seekers aboard a faulty boat set to sail from a bay in Turkey's Aegean Izmir province.

Local gendarmerie teams learned that migrant smugglers were preparing to take asylum seekers to Italy by boat attached to a fishing port in the Karaburun district of Izmir.

A team of Turkish scientists and archaeologists have discovered the remains of a 2,500-year-old Aphrodite Temple in the Urla-Çeşme peninsula in Turkey's west.

A tender has been launched for the restoration of 16 buildings located on "Quarantine Island," one of the three quarantine islands registered in the world in the Aegean province of İzmir's Urla district.

The island, which spans an area of 323,000 square meters, was converted into a quarantine center amid an epidemic 155 years ago.

A mayor from Turkey's main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) was arrested over his suspected links to the FETÖ, the group behind the 2016 defeated coup attempt, a prosecutor's office said on Dec. 17.

İbrahim Burak Oğuz, the mayor of Urla district in the Aegean province of İzmir, is the first head of a CHP-run municipality to be arrested since the March 31 local elections.

A total of 139 irregular migrants were detained in the Çeşme, Menderes and Urla districts of the Aegean province of İzmir on April 17.

A Roman ancient city, discovered during one of the world's most important archaeology projects, the Liman Tepe excavations, is set to serve as an archeopark after excavations end.   

Seven were killed after a migrant boat sank off Turkey's Aegean coast on July 27 evening, the Turkish Coast Guard confirmed on July 28.      

Two women and five children were killed when the boat carrying 18 people capsized at around 9 p.m. near the Ceşme district of the Aegean province of İzmir. The boat was heading to the Greek islands.      

At a time when political tension is absorbing so much of our energy, it is fascinating that we still have the power to be affected or shocked by a piece of art.