Sakarya

Turkish commercial vehicle maker Otokar said on Dec. 19 that it had signed a technology and license deal with Iran's Afshan Industrial and Manufacturing Co. (OGHAB) concerning the export and sale of its Navigo buses, in a written statement to the Public Disclosure Platform (KAP). 

Koç Holding's Otokar has completed a seven-year prototype development process and will commence the mass production of 250 Altay main battle tanks as soon as it receives approval from Turkish authorities, according to a top company representative. 

Turkey will speak with all interested parties, including Russia, over its plans to develop a long-range missile defense system, a top defense official said on Nov. 8.

NATO member Turkey last year cancelled a $3.4 billion tender for such a system, after it had been provisionally awarded to China, a move that had stirred concern from the United States and other Western allies.

A private company has found natural gas reserves at a depth of 400-450 meters in three districts of Sakarya province in northwestern Turkey, according to sources. 

Toyota Motor Corp will begin production of a new hybrid engine model based on the C-HR concept in Turkey by year-end with an investment of more than 350 million euros ($396 million), Toyota's chief executive of Europe, Johan van Zyl, said on Feb. 11, as reported by Reuters. 

An Aug.

In Sakarya University, near Istanbul, a "spring festival" was organized, as they do every year. We did not have such festivities in my college years but I have been invited to such festivals recently; they are quite fun. Pop music groups are invited; young people sing songs and have fun. I am guessing that such festivities are organized in most of the universities around the country. 

Seven students were injured when an elevator at a high school building fell to the ground from the third floor due to an unknown technical failure in the western province of Sakarya on Nov. 18.

The accident happened at a newly-built building of a religious vocational high school in the Geyve district of Sakarya, which opened earlier this year.