Esra

Turkey wins Virtus European Indoor Athletics Championships

Turkey won the 2021 Virtus European Indoor Athletics Championships, the Turkish Special Athletes Sports Federation announced on March 13.

Turkish athletes bagged 13 medals - six gold, five silver, and two bronze - and were crowned champions with 32 points, the federation said in a statement.

Turkey's Esra Bayrak was named the best female athlete at the championships, it added.

All-female band rocks on to inspire women across Turkey

Performing now for three years, all-female Turkish band Marla aims to inspire women to enter rock amid prejudice in the male-dominated genre.

The group's five members, all in their twenties, are based in Turkey's capital Ankara and have come together despite backgrounds in different disciplines from medicine to French literature.

Two Turkish educators to mark 100th day of hunger strike

June 16 will be the 100th day of the beginning of the hunger strike of two jailed educators, Nuriye Gülmen and Semih Özakça, in protest at being dismissed from their posts through state of emergency decrees. 

"Semih has become so thin. He is having difficulty even walking," said Semih Özakça's wife, Esra Özakça, who herself has also been on a hunger strike for the last 24 days.