Zeytinburnu

Some 40 percent of the shops in Istanbul's leather exporting district, Zeytinburnu, have been closed down, leaving 3,000 people jobless, as the sector faces the risk to lose its largest market, Russia. The owners of the remaining shops have said their products were seized in Russia. 

Istanbul police seized 2,700 prescription drugs, including ones to treat cancer and diabetes, before the goods were smuggled to Egypt and Syria during a raid on Feb. 16 on an organized gang.

Two Syrian children were killed and two residents wounded when a fire erupted at an apartment in Istanbul's Zeytinburnu district early on Feb. 12. 

The fire started at 4:30 a.m. at Güler Apartment in Zeytinburnu's Ye?ilyol and spread to a flat inhabited by a Syrian family of six.

Turkish police have seized more than 1,000 foreign passports and detained eight suspects in raids on multiple homes as part of an operation that targeted human smugglers in Istanbul. 

A total of eight suspects were detained on Feb. 3 in an operation targeting a migrant smuggling organization in Istanbul.

An Istanbul court arrested 10 people with suspected links to the suicide bomber who killed 10 German tourists in Istanbul's Sultanahmet Square on Jan. 12 over charges of "being a member of a terrorist organization" and "voluntary manslaughter."

A total of 16 Syrians with suspected links to the suicide bomber who killed 10 German tourists in Istanbul's Sultanahmet Square on Jan. 12 have been questioned by officials and sent to an Istanbul court, where they could be charged with membership of a terrorist organization.

Turkish Interior Minister Efkan Ala said on Jan. 14 that there are now seven detained suspects with links to the Jan. 12 attack in Istanbul's historic Sultanahmet Square, which left 10 German tourists killed and 15 others wounded.

An Uzbek national has been charged in Istanbul for plotting to kill a leading Uzbek dissident, according to prosecutors.

The suspect, identified as M.D., appeared in court late Dec. 3 and was held in custody on a charge of plotting to kill Mohammad Salih, who heads the Uzbekistan People's Movement, and his son Timur.

Sixteen people out of 22 detained over the smuggling of migrants into Europe from Turkey were arrested on Nov. 25 by an Istanbul court.

Police squads raided a number of different locations in the Zeytinburnu district, on the European side of the city, as part of a series of operations targeting smugglers between Nov. 15 and 19, police sources said.