★ According to VOA's Dorian Jones, historic rivals Greece and Turkey are stepping up efforts to improve ties after the two countries' leaders received strong election mandates this year. Next week, Turkish and Greek foreign ministers are scheduled to meet in Turkey, but analysts warn substantial obstacles remain between the neighbors. Dorian Jones reports from Istanbul.

  Hear Dorian Jones' report >> here <<

★ Turkish authorities blocked access to voaturkce.com, the VOA Turkish website, in Turkey on Tuesday, following a court order banning access due to the international news organization's failure to apply for a broadcast license from Turkey's media regulator. As we told you last week, in a warning posted on its website on August 21, the Radio and Television Supreme Council gave VOA Turkish 72 hours to apply for an on-demand broadcast license or risk having the court block access to VOA Turkish content. Read the detailed news >> here <<

★ VOA's Dorian Jones writes about a man in Istanbul whose hobby is Russian cargo ships on the Bosporus straight and spotting those that are busting sanctions by carrying illegal cargo from occupied ports in Ukraine. Yörük Işık captures with his camera ships images.

  He says watching ships on the Bosporus gives clues about Russian foreign policy and what their engaging in, and they are planning to do in the coming months.

  He works with an international network of volunteers and nongovernment organizations that share data online on the movement of Russian cargo ships.

  The data he collects has become a crucial resource for global media and others who monitor compliance.

  Read the full article and watch the video >> here <<

★ Deutsche Welle's Julia Hahn had a video article on the situation in Turkey's February earthquakes zone. The article says that thousands still live among toxic dust in containers and tent cities in the Hatay province, six months after deadly earthquakes.

  Bianet also reported on a protest rally in one neighborhoods in Hatay.

  The earthquake survivors in the Dursunlu neighborhood of Defne, Hatay, organized a march on August 30 to protest power and water outages. The protesters pointed out that some temporary homes do not have any utilities.

  Residents of the neighborhood had previously carried out marches and sit-in protests demanding clean water, and that demolitions should not be carried out without watering down the dust, and the speed limit of excavation trucks should be controlled.

★ Hakan Fidan and Sergei Lavrov, the Turkish and Russian foreign affairs ministers , met in Moscow on Thursday. Among the things that they discussed was the re--starting the export of grain from Ukraine, Bianet reported.

  With Turkey's mediation, in July 2022, Russia and Ukraine agreed for uninhibited exports of grain from both countries.

  This year, Russia let the agreement expire complaining that it is exports were being prevented.

  The two ministers also discussed rushing shipments of one million tons of grain to Turkey at a reduced price. The plan proposes that Turkey process the grain and then send it to countries in need with support from Qatar.

  Russian foreign affairs minister Mr. Lavrov accused the Western countries of "hindering the resolution of obstacles that prevent a more active export of Russian grain and fertilizers."

  Read the Bianet article >> here <<

★ The strike of journalists at the Turkey office of the Russian government-affiliated media organization Sputnik is continuing, reports Bianet.

  On Friday, a Turkish court rejected a request made by the Sputnik management for the strike to be stopped.

  The Sputnik employees organize themselves within the Journalists Union of Turkey. After more than six months of negotiations, Sputnik left the negotiations and fired the 24 journalists who joined the union.

★ According to Bianet, Democracy and Progress (DEVA) Party Istanbul Deputy and Deputy Chairperson Mustafa Yeneroğlu brought the 2022 Treatment and Rehabilitation Centers Report of the Turkey Human Rights Foundation to the agenda of the Turkish Parliament.

  In their motions, Yeneroğlu stated that there was a 22 percent increase in applications to the Human Rights Foundation in 2022 compared to the previous year and that the youngest applicant was 3 years old.

  Yeneroğlu mentioned that it is noted that the second-highest number of applications was in 2022 breaking the record numbers in 2001.

  According to the report, 497 people were kept in reverse handcuffs, 80 people were subjected to physical sexual harassment, and 3 people were raped.

  The report writes that 43.5 percent of the applicants had been subjected to sexual torture.

  Yeneroğlu also stated that in dozens of applications he received, the ruling Justice and Development Party Administration arbitrarily continued its policy of imprisoning individuals for ten years or more under the scope of "terrorism crimes."

  The parliamentarian drew attention to the policy of keeping sick inmates in prison.

  The Human Rights Foundation report that there were 1517 sick prisoners in Turkish prisons, including 650 one seriously ill once. And in 2022 at least 81 prisoners died in prisons.

  Read the full article >> here <<

★ Turkey's hunger threshold, which indicates the minimum amount of money needed to save a four-member family from starvation a month, became 12,198 Turkish liras ($459) in August, according to the monthly report by Türk-İş, the Confederation of Turkish Trade Unions.

  The hunger threshold surpassed the minimum wage for two consecutive months after the government's hike. The minimum wage was raised by some 34% to 11,402 lira ($429) for the second half of 2023.

★ According to Reuters, Turkey's latest massive interest rate hike has caught the attention of long-skeptical foreign investors who say they could return to Turkish assets if authorities continue to demonstrate that a return to orthodox monetary policy is underway.

  The lira rallied as much as 7% on Thursday after the central bank shocked the market by lifting its key rate by 750 basis points to 25% - three times the size of the expected move.

  >> here <<

★ The Global Housing Price Index of international real estate consultancy firm Knight Frank revealed that housing prices in Turkey increased by 132.8 percent in the first quarter of 2023 compared to the same period of 2022, Euronews' Turkish service reported on Aug. 26.

  Analyzing 56 countries and regions, Ankara, İzmir and Istanbul were the provinces with the highest increase in housing prices among the 150 provinces on the list with 135.3 percent, 133 percent and 127.3 percent respectively.

  Zagreb followed Turkish metropolitan provinces with 22.5 percent increase in housing prices.

  >> here <<KHJ"> >> here <<

★ The Turkish daily Dünya reported that Afghanistan's Taliban government signed a contract with a Turkish company for extracting minerals and ores of various metals.

  Companies from China, Iran, and Britain also signed similar agreements that totaled to $6.5 million of investment in Afghanistan.

  With the international sanctions in place for the Taliban administration, analysts point out it may be difficult to have viable operations in Afghanistan.

  Last week we reported to you that Turkish lira rose against foreign currencies when a higher policy interest rate was announced by the Turkish central bank. The value of the dollar dipped to 25.6 Turkish liras from 27.2.

  This week Turkish lira started losing ground again and was trading at 26.5 on Friday.

 

★ According to Turkey's culture and tourism ministry, with its natural beauties and could technical infrastructure the country is becoming a destination for foreign moviemakers.

  They pointed out that many New Productions Will Take Pl. in Turkey in the coming months.

  In 2022 there were 233 foreign shoots were produced in Turkey. This was a 46% increase over 2021.

  The breakdown of the 233 foreign shoots are as follows:

  18 feature films, 30 TV series, 102 documentary films, 46 television movies and programs, 27 commercials and 10 music clips were shot.

  Turkey has hosted Oscar-winning productions such as Argo, James Bond, Skyfall, Charlie's Angels and Inferno.

  Director Guy Ritchie's movie 'The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare" about World War II, was recently shot in Antalya.

  The EXPO Fairground hosted a part of the film, most of which was shot on the plateau set up in the Demre district of Antalya. The producers spent Approximately $15 million on the film in Turkey.

  'Operation Fortune' directed by Guy Ritchie and starring Jason Statham, and 'Tiger 3' starring Salman Khan and Katrina Kaif from Bollywood movies are among the films shot in Turkey.

★ More than 1.3 million attended the "Sumela Culture Road Festival" held in Turkey's black sea province of Trabzon between August 19-27 .

  The festival was named after recently renovated Sumela monastery.

  There were more than 500 activities such as exhibitions, workshops, gastronomy events during the festival.

★ The documentary "Tavuri", written and directed by Derviş Zaim, will be released on September 15.

  It took eight years for the director to produce the film.

  The documentary tells the story of a criminal and covers topics such as crime, society, freedom and compassion.

  The documentary, which is about Mustafa Serttaş, nicknamed "Tavuri", was shot in prison, London and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.

  It followed Serttaş, a Cypriot con artist and thief, in the prison and after his release for five years.

  The world premiere of the film took place in the U.S. at the True-False Film Festival.

  Derviş Zaim is an award-winning Turkish Cypriot director.

★ A group of genetics scientists from China's Xinamen University invited Turkish TV anchor Defne Samyeli. The scientists are conducting research on the beauty and aging of human skin.

  Ms. Samyeli will the traveling to Beijing and meet the researchers. She says she will also talk at a conference attended by 4000 people.

★ The 27th Istanbul theater Festival will start on October 25.

  The festival will host 20 theater troops will and dance groups at 15 different venues.

  In addition to Turkey, The countries represented the festival are Germany, Britain, Denmark, France, Georgia, Ireland, Israel, and Greece.

  Among the plays that will be on the stage is Milo Rau's La Reprise.

  New York Times chose the play as the Best Production of the Year. It tells the 2012 tragic story of a group of youth in Liege.

  Milo Rau is a Swiss theater director, journalists, and a professor.

★ When it was discovered that nearly 2,000 artifacts had been stolen from the British Museum in the last 30 years, Zeynep Boz, Head of the Anti-Smuggling Department of Turkey's Ministry of Culture, sent an official letter to the museum through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

  In her letter she requested information about the status of the Anatolian artifacts in the museum. Moreover, she asked that these artifacts be returned to Turkey.

  While the British refused to return artifacts from Turkey such as the Mausoleum and the Nereids Monument stolen in the late 1800s under the pretext of security, they they may now return it, Turkish officials think.

  Last week, news broke out that many jewelry, some precious stones, and glass ware stolen from the British Museum were on sale for extremely low prices on eBay.

★ In 2012, Turkey applied to the U.S. authorities for the repatriation of the bronze statue of Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius, thought to have been smuggled from the Bubon Ancient City in Turkey's Burdur province in 1960s.

  In 2012, Turkish authorities published a list of artifacts at the Cleveland Museum that were smuggled out of Turkey. The museum at the time disputed the Turkish claim.

  The statue is in the collection of the Cleveland Museum.

  The US prosecutor's office confiscated the statue as part of the investigation.

  The American press stated that the value of the 1,800-year-old work is approximately 20 million dollars.

★ One of the earliest water channels in history dating back 8,200 years was  found  during the excavation work carried out in the Yeşilova mound in the Bornova district of İzmir, Turkey, and is the oldest known prehistoric human settlement in the İzmir .

  The mound has already revealed significant Neolithic Age traces as well as a wealth of information about the earliest settlers in the region of Izmir off the coast of the Aegean, their surroundings, and their culture. For instance, unlike Catalhoyuk in central Anatolia, where the houses are next to one another, they lived in separate houses with separate roof systems.

  Ingeniously, the early city dwellers had manually changed the watercourse so that it flowed right into their immediate area.

  Associate Professor Zafer Derin of Ege University, who located the mound and has been the excavation leader since 2005, explains that:

★ Archaeologists have found a statue of Nike, the goddess of victory, dating to the 2nd century AD in the Ancient City of Syedra. Although the head of the statue, which is about 75 cm high, is missing, it has survived to the present day.

  Excavations in the Ancient City of Syedra are carried out by a team led by Dr. Ertuğ Ergürer from Karamanoğlu Mehmetbey University, Department of Archeology and Syedra Ancient City Excavation Head Assoc. It has been going on for five years.

  Ergürer, the head of the excavation, said, "During the work, we came across the statue in the western part of the colonnaded street, under the burial building built for important people of that period. "This came as a surprise to us. The 75-centimeter-long statue will reach one meter when all the pieces are put together.

  "We also completed a hand of Nike, the goddess of victory, today. We have 35-40 pieces completely.

  "Nike, a goddess of pagan belief, became disapproved, probably with the advent of Christianity, and was thrown into the area where it stands today. She's a bit damaged by this expulsion."

  Nike, who can run, fly and is seen as the personalized form of victory in Greek mythology, was referred to as "Victoria" in Roman culture. This goddess was often depicted with wings, a fluttering dress, and a wreath of laurel leaves.

  Syedra is a city located near the Alanya district of Antalya and dates back to the 7th century BC.

★ Flat-faced dogs like pugs and bulldogs, technically known as brachycephalic dogs, can be undeniably attractive: They look like puppies for ever, with their small noses, big eyes, and wrinkled features, and people say, "Oh, how cute!"

  Brachycephaly may be caused by several different genes, and it is likely that humans have selectively bred dogs several times and in different locations for brachycephalic traits. For example, pugs are said to have originated in China more than 1,000 years ago.

  Now, a remarkable discovery from a 2,000-year-old tomb in Turkey indicates that the ancient Romans probably also bred flat-faced dogs as companions.

  The remains of a small dog with features resembling a French bulldog, buried next to its possible owner, are among the earliest known examples of a brachycephalic dog ever discovered.

  The discovery, published earlier this year in the Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, was made in 2007 in the Tralleis necropolis, just outside the modern city of Aydın on Turkey's Aegean coast.

★ Archaeological excavations in the ancient city of Magnesia revealed the altar of Zeus temple.

  The altar measures 140" x 200" and a height of 27 1/2 inches.

  Archaeologists think that the ancients used the altar for sacrificial ceremonies in the cult of Zeus.

  Dr. Görkem Kökdemir, the head of the excavations and a professor at the Ankara University, said that they uncovered the floor of the temple this year.

  In addition to the Zeus temple, archaeologists also unearthed the Artemis sanctuary, stadium, and theater areas.

  Kökdemir said that German archaeologists conducted excavations at the site someone hundred years ago. They took 10% of the fines truly Pergamon Museum in Berlin.