Turkish language

The president of the Marmara Group Foundation, Dr. Akkan Suver, has been awarded with a special merit medal by Albania for his works on peace and stability in the Balkans.

Speaking during the medal ceremony on June 9, Albanian President Bujar Nishani stated that Suver had worked to foster peace, stability and coexistence in the Balkans with the NGO that he leads with modest means.

Russia's relaxation of trade sanctions against Turkey is expected to return bilateral relations to the level the countries enjoyed before a crisis in 2015, leading Turkish contractors said June 2. 

Mert Hakan Şeker, a 10-year-old piano prodigy taking lessons in the northwestern Turkish province of Bursa, winning in his category in the 6th International Music Competition in the Swedish capital Stockholm last week. 

Fatih Akın's "In the Fade," an emotional and powerful film about global terrorism, stands a strong chance at receiving a prize at the awards ceremony of the 70th Cannes Film Festival. The film was viewed by the international press on the morning of May 26, with Akın answering questions from journalists after the screening. 

Turkish critical daily Sözcü has published a "May 19 Press Freedom Special Edition," left blank to protest the detentions of some staff members. 

The May 19 edition of the daily carried empty columns with writers' names and also left the weather section blank.

It was a response to the May 18 detentions of Mediha Olgun, the editor of Sözcü's website, and reporter Gökmen Ulu.

In a letter to his European Union counterparts, Greece's ambassador to Turkey, Kyriakos Loukakis, has asked them to abstain from attending the closing ceremony of the Denizkurdu 2017 (Seawolf) naval exercise.

Turkish media published excerpts of the letter, dismissing it as Greek "propaganda" to the Europeans.

Turkey celebrated one of its most meaningful national days on May 19, Youth and Sports Day, marking the 98th anniversary of the beginning of the Turkish War of Independence after Mustafa Kemal Atatürk headed from allied-occupied Istanbul to Samsun on the Black Sea coast in 1919. 

Journalists staged protests in Istanbul and Ankara to demand the release of daily Cumhuriyet journalists, executives and employees on the 200th day of their arrest on May 18.

Demonstrators gathered in front of the Çağlayan courthouse in Istanbul and made a press statement demanding "freedom for the truth," while holding pictures of the jailed journalists. 

A 31-year-old woman was released from a jail in the Black Sea province of Zonguldak on May 16, one day after she was imprisoned together with her new born baby over alleged links to the Gülen movement, Doğan News Agency has reported. 

A 31-year-old woman who was being sought over alleged links to the Gülen movement was jailed with her new born baby three days after giving birth in the Black Sea province of Zonguldak, Doğan News Agency reported on May 16.