Antalya

The traditional spring festival of Hıdrellez was celebrated across Turkey with events that started on the evening of May 5 and continued throughout May 6, this time without COVID-19 restrictions.

The latest photographs released by the General Directorate of Forestry show that areas affected by wildfires in recent years have recovered at a fast pace.

American model and media personality Kendall Jenner will be visiting Turkey's world-renowned tourism hub Bodrum for a three-day business trip this summer.

According to daily Milliyet, she will go before the cameras to shoot photos for a bathing suit company on the first two days of her trip. On the third day, she will visit the secluded bays of the Aegean tourism hotspot by boat.

Housing rent prices in the Mediterranean province of Antalya have skyrocketed from 2,500 to around 10,000 Turkish Liras (from $170 to nearly $680) due to high demand from Ukrainians and Russians, Antalya Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ATSO) executive Mustafa Ayanoğlu has said.

A dolphin-figured stone, which was discovered during archaeological excavations conducted 10 years ago and was buried for its protection, has been placed in the Patara Lighthouse.

A library named after daily Hürriyet's columnist Doğan Hızlan has been inaugurated by Turkish Education Minister Mahmut Özer inside a high school in Istanbul's Beşiktaş district.

Speaking at the opening ceremony on April 20, Hızlan advised young people to read books, saying, "Everybody should learn their native language well, and this can only be obtained by reading books."

Ahmet Muhsin Tüzer, who once made headlines in local media as "rock singer" imam, has applied to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) to get his job back.

While serving as an imam in the Mediterranean province of Antalya's Kaş district, Tüzer formed a band named "FiRock" with famous rock guitarist Doğan Sakin and released a single in 2013.

Foreign tourists have flocked to the Turkish province of Antalya on the Mediterranean coast to spend their Easter holiday.

In April 2020, only 905 holidaymakers arrived in the tourist hotspot, but in the first two weeks of this month alone, Antalya already welcomed 300,000 travelers, up from 178,000 visitors in the whole of April last year.

More and more buildings in Turkey are being integrated into a system that will help authorities get information immediately about these structures and residences in case of an earthquake.

Under the Building Identification System, each building is assigned a unique QR code, with chips installed that store information such as who lives in the building and floor plans.

Holidaymakers are already searching for summer houses to spend their vacation in Turkey's coastal towns but only to find that rent prices have skyrocketed.

On average, the rent of an apartment in the tourist hotspot Bodrum, on the Aegean coast, is now around 30,000 Turkish Liras ($2,000), while prices for luxury units can go up to between 100,000 and 250,000 euros.