Cemil

The Presidential Culture and Arts Grand Awards 2015 were handed out on Dec. 9 by President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an at a ceremony at the Presidential Palace in Ankara. 

The number of people who have died after drinking bootleg alcohol in the Aegean province of ?zmir has risen to 11, as three people hospitalized because of bootleg alcohol poisoning could not be saved.

A mere 9 percent of concert ticket fees go into the wallets of Turkish musicians, making organizations rather risky for both firms and artists due to high costs and taxes, an industry representative has said. 

Three suspects alleged to belong to the outlawed leftist Revolutionary People's Liberation Party-Front (DHKP-C) were detained on Oct. 8, after suspiciously monitoring the Istanbul police headquarters and the main Ça?layan courthouse. 

A local tourist has discovered names engraved on walls in the cave of Shepherd Paris on Mount Ida in the northwestern province of Çanakkale, thought to belong to 19th century British archaeologist Frank Calvert. 

Calvert is known as the first archaeologist to carry out excavation works at the ancient site of Troy, between 1863 and 1865.

An outlawed Revolutionary People's Liberation Party-Front (DHKP-C) member has been arrested after he was seen entering a courthouse in Istanbul's Asian side while wearing a police uniform.

According to Turkish European Union Minister Ali Haydar Konca, during the week-long curfew in southeastern Cizre at least 20 people lost their lives, though the prime minister of the country apparently wanted to believe no one was hurt. The premier, fighting for his own political survival, was obviously uninformed of the saga of little Cemile.

Istanbul offers a wide range of activities to serve Istanbulites with different tastes, from a cooking workshop to one focusing on the problems of single mothers; from a Tarkan concert to a Latin music festival. Here is a calendar for Istanbul?s culture and arts events for September 2015.

Sept. 1

Turkish pop star Tarkan Teveto?lu staged a glamorous show for more than 7,000 fans at Istanbul's Cemil Topuzlu Open Air Theater on Aug. 26. Despite not releasing a new album for five years, the singer has almost sold out nine upcoming dates at the same Istanbul venue.

Istanbul has a wide range of activities on offer in August, from a nighttime walk through its historical quarters to outdoor film screenings on the shores of the Bosphorus.