Izmir

A band plays lively music on İzmir's Kıbrıs Şehitleri Street, a smaller version of Istanbul's İstiklal, in front of the Alsancak Bakery.

Though separated by millennia of history, İzmir's past will soon be symbolically linked with the opening of the ancient Smyrna excavation area to visits, allowing tourists to journey from Neolithic times to the relatively recent Classical past - stopping in ancient Smyrna along the way.

About 50 people, mostly young and mostly women, are lying on the grass on the Kordon, the coastal front at the center of İzmir, reading their books. It is Oct. 30, İzmir's Book Reading Festival, a spontaneous festival that surfaced on social media. It is strikingly simple - with no activities or sponsors: "Just bring your book, a cushion and a cup of coffee."

Turkish authorities on Tuesday released six men detained on Monday while on a fishing trip around the islet of Paspargo, between Chios and the Turkish coast.

The men - five Greek nationals and a US citizen - were transported by the Turkish coast guard to Cesme on Monday evening, before heading to Izmir on Tuesday morning.

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), Export Development Canada (EDC) and the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), the U.S. government's development finance institution, are co-financing the development of a 769.6-million-euro high-tech hospital in İzmir. 

A total of four ministers and 58 Justice and Development Party (AKP) deputies and mayors were using the ByLock and Eagle applications, two mobile applications that are suspected to have been used as an internal communication means among Gülenists, main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) İzmir deputy Aytun Çıray said Oct. 17.

Archaeological excavations on the Yassıtepe mound in İzmir's Bornova district have unearthed 5,000-year-old grape seeds that are believed to be the seeds of the Bornova Misket grape. 

The findings were put on display at the Yeşilova mound visitor center following a ceremony. 

A record amount of drugs were seized in raids across the country late on Oct. 8, Doğan News Agency has reported.

More than two tons of marijuana, including skunk, and 70 kilograms of bonsai, a form of synthesized marijuana classified as the most dangerous drug in Turkey, were seized in raids during five separate operations conducted in four provinces. 

A crossword puzzle with top-to-bottom and left-to-right Greek words has been unearthed on the in the walls of a basilica at the Smyrna agora, located in İzmir's İkiçeşmelik area.

Limantepe is the first underwater center in Turkey.  Excavation have been carried out in spots between Karantina Island and Urla Harbor.