Lycaonia

Plans to construct an additional building on the premises of the royal "Rose Garden" ("Gülbahçesi" in Turkish) has stirred debate in the Central Anatolian province of Konya, following the discovery of ancient tombs and bones during excavation works, Doğan News Agency reported on May 21. 

A court in the Central Anatolian province of Konya has sentenced a pre-school teacher to 200 days in prison for beating a six-year-old autistic child with a stick.

The punishment was subsequently reduced to a fine of 4,000 Turkish Liras (around $1,110). 

The Sultanhanı caravanserai, which is located on the Aksaray-Konya road in Central Anatolia and is reputed as the largest one in Anatolia, will undergo restoration after 60 years. 

Sultanhanı was built eight centuries ago by Anatolian Seljuk Sultan Alaaddin Keykubat on the Silk Road to serve as an accommodation and a secure point for those travelling the trade route. 

An anti-tobacco initiative by the Health Ministry in the Central Anatolian province of Konya has been halted by officials after declaring that the message reading "NO" on pamphlets, brochures and posters to discourage smoking could lead people to vote "no" in an upcoming amendment referendum. 

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militant who attacked Istanbul's Reina nightclub "definitely" got help from inside the nightclub, a former deputy head of the National Intelligence Agency (MİT) has claimed. 

At least two students were killed and 43 were wounded when a shuttle carrying students plunged from a highway in the Central Anatolian province of Konya early on Jan. 6, Doğan News Agency has reported.  

The accident took place on a highway between the district of Cihanbeyli and Konya near the Directorate of Meteorology building at 8:00 a.m.

The identity of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militant who killed 39 people in Istanbul's Reina nightclub in the early hours of Jan. 1 has been established, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu stated on Dec. 4, as police continue to carry out detentions in relation to the attack. 

A Byzantine-era stone tablet has been found during road construction in the Central Anatolian province of Karaman's Ermenek district. 

A second lawsuit has been filed against a teacher in the Ere?li district of the Central Anatolian province of Konya, after he was sentenced on April 20 to 508 years and three months in jail on charges of sexually assaulting 10 school children in the Central Anatolian province of Karaman.

A teacher facing up to 600 years in prison on charges of sexually assaulting 10 male school children in the Central Anatolian province of Karaman has denied all accusations in the first hearing of the case.

The 54-year-old teacher, identified only by the initials M.B., pleaded not guilty in the April 20 hearing, which took place amid tight security measures.