Hürriyet reporter Ömer Erbil awarded journalism prize for Topkapı Palace story

Hürriyet reporter Ömer Erbil will be awarded the Turkish Journalists Association's (TGC) Sedat Simavi Award for his reporting on the danger of a collapse at Istanbul's historic Topkapı Palace in September.

The date and venue of the award ceremony will be announced later.

On Sept. 26, Erbil reported that deep crevices were found in the treasury room of the Ottoman-era palace, the Conqueror Kiosk, prompting its closure to tourists.

The Culture and Tourism Ministry later agreed that the serious cracks on the kiosk's basement floor walls were "deformations that go beyond the crack area and have reached the discrete and slit levels." 

A major restoration worth around 10 million Turkish Liras was later initiated at the palace.

The Topkapı Palace, which overlooks the confluence of the Bosphorus and the Marmara Sea, was one of the major residences of the Ottoman sultans for almost 400 years (1465-1856) during the empire's 624-year history.

It is now a museum and a major tourist attraction, containing a number of important relics of the Muslim world.

The Sedat Simavi Award is named after the founding president of the association Sedat Simavi, who passed away on Dec. 11, 1953. For 40 years, the Sedat Simavi Awards have been given annually in journalism, radio, television, cartoons, literature, social, physical and health sciences and sports.