Robert College

The 30th Istanbul Jazz Festival invites the audience to explore and experience innovative work all around the city with close to 40 concerts by more than 200 local and international acts.

For this year's festival, some of the most beloved venues are set to host music lovers once again along with newer ones.

An arbitrary increase in annual private school fees, which became a hot topic on the country's agenda for some people, reaching up to 294,000 liras ($17,750), cannot be accepted, Education Minister Mahmut Özer has said.

"We are evaluating all complaints from parents on this issue and will intervene if needed," Özer said on June 7.

As administrations of private schools have started announcing their annual education fees, Istanbul's Robert College has topped the "most expensive school" list with an annual fee of some 294,000 Turkish Liras ($17,750), the daily Milliyet has reported.

"Families have to pay nearly a fortune to send their children to private schools," the daily wrote on June 6.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has replaced a top Turkish university rector whose appointment led to months of student-led protests.

Melih Bulu, the rector of Istanbul's Boğaziçi University, was dismissed from his post by a presidential decree published in the Official Gazette on July 15.

Rahşan Ecevit, wife and closest confidant of late Turkish Prime Minister Bülent Ecevit, was laid to rest in the capital province of Ankara on Jan. 19.

Ecevit died at the Gülhane Training and Research Hospital, where she had been receiving treatment since Dec. 26, on Jan. 17 at the age of 97.

She died in the intensive care unit due to multiple organ failure at around 9.10 p.m.

It started long before Turkey's July 15, 2016 military coup attempt. Slowly but steadily, young professionals, entrepreneurs, engineers, academics and new graduates started leaving their home country in search of a better future. Many of the country's best and brightest do not see any hope of creating better lives and improving their intellectual capacity in their homeland anymore.

John Freely, the well-known author of many history and travel books on Istanbul, Turkey and Greece, passed away on April 20 at age of 90. 

Freely wrote more than 40 books over the course of his long life, including his masterpiece "Strolling Through Istanbul: A Guide to the City," which is seen as the perhaps the best guide to Istanbul ever written.  

Contributions made to the western province of Muğla's Bodrum district by writer Cevat Şakir Kabaağaçlı, known as the Fisherman of Halicarnassus, are highly appreciated by locals.

Ankara's Platform A and Armony Art Gallery are simultaneously hosting recent works by a significant figure in contemporary Turkish art, painter Orhan Taylan. 

Opening an exhibition every year in Ankara is a tradition for Taylan, who has been working with Armoni Art Gallery since 1988 and Platform Gallery, its sister company. 

Turkish people who live within Turkey are focused on potential problems between the president and the prime minister, which dominates the news. 

However, the focus of Turks outside of Turkey is on what they do best - and two of them are doing particularly well. 

I am proud to say that both come from my alumni, Robert College, and one is my former classmate, Güvenç Özel.