★ With 79 votes for and 13 against, the U. S. Senate defeated Republican Sen. Rand Paul's resolution to disapprove the sale of F-16 fighter jets and modernization kits to Turkey.

  In his speech before the vote, Sen. Paul criticized Turkey and claimed that the sale would make Turkey's misbehavior bolder.

  However, senators approving the sale said that the US has to keep its word to Turkey, a NATO ally.

  In January, President Biden told Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan he would work to make sure Turkey could get the $20 billion worth of F-16 fighters and modernization kits if the Turkish parliament ratified Sweden's NATO membership bid.

  On January 23, the Turkish parliament approved Sweden's membership.

★ According to the Associated Press, Turkey rejected accusations by Human Rights Watch that it committed abuses and possible war crimes in the northern part of Syria.

  After the start of the Syrian civil war, Turkey sided with the opposition, except the Kurds. Although the Syrian Kurdish militias became allies of the U. S., considering them to be an extension of the rebel Turkish Kurds, Turkey has fought them.

★ A Turkish court sentenced Erdem Gül, a journalist and mayor of Istanbul's Adalar District Municipality, to five years in prison for publishing a report on Turkey's dispatch of arms to Jihadist groups in Syria fighting against the regime.

  In his defense against the prosecutor's final opinion in the final hearing, Gül said, "I do not accept the accusations because journalism is not a crime."

  Erdem Gül was the Ankara bureau chief of the Turkish daily Cumhuriyet.

  In December 2020, For the same alleged crime, a court sentenced Can Dündar, the former editor-in-chief of the daily Cumhuriyet, to 27 years, but Dündar left Turkey in 2016 to live in Germany.

  Read the details >> here <<

★ On February 26, the Turkish delegation presented its argument in the International Court of Justice hearing regarding the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories.

  Ahmet Yıldız, Turkey's deputy foreign affairs minister, argued that Israel's occupation is the root cause of the problem and the world community should address it.

  Mr. Yıldız added that without addressing the root cause, there can be no peace in the region.

★ According to Deutsche Welle, Turkey's constitutional court canceled thirty-seven regulations implemented with the first presidential decree in 2018 when Turkey went to a presidential system.

  The decision included regulation regarding the Presidential Communications Center, as the court argued the procedures and principles of the center "cannot be determined" by a presidential decree.

  The Republican People's, the main opposition party, and the Council of State administrative case chambers filed lawsuits against the decree at the time.

  In the decision, the court said that the president has no authority to make regulations concerning fundamental rights guaranteed by the constitution, that the president could not issue any decree on this, and that only a law can make them.

  The court gave the government nine months to fix the regulations.

  Some of the regulations are:

• Appointment of personnel to the presidency
• Regulation of their salaries
• Appointment of judges and prosecutors
• Collection of information on senior executives
• Granting of municipal powers to the Environment and Urbanization Ministry
• Presidential Communications Center

★ The local elections are right around the corner. On March 31, Turks will go to the polls to elect their mayors, municipal council members, and village headmen.

  The ruling coalition parties and the opposition are accusing each other of cheating.

  Although not quite cheating, the opposition disclosed an unusual scheme by the ruling party in Turkey's Balıkesir city. The candidate for the Metropolitan Balıkesir Mayor from the opposition Republican People's Party is Ahmet Akın, a businessman and a politician.

  The ruling party has a candidate, of course, on the ballot. However, in addition to that, it is claimed that they had another Ahmet Akın place his name on the ballot as an independent candidate. The opposition says it is to confuse the people and vote for the wrong person.

  Journalists investigating the matter write that the second Ahmet Akın is a server at a local restaurant. Nobody has seen him at work since his name appeared on the ballot.

★ Social media giant X's Global Government Affairs team on March 1 shared that they won a lawsuit against the Turkish government regarding its request to ban 45 tweets on the mining disaster in Erzincan province.

  Ankara 8th Criminal Court of Peace issued a "content removal" order for 45 tweets after the mine disaster that trapped nine workers and caused cyanide exposure on February 13. Three of the posts belonged to the far-right Victory Party chair Ümit Özdağ.

  Upon appeal, a higher court canceled the removal decision.

★ On February 29, Turkey's main opposition Republican People's Party met Mehmet Zahid Sobacı, the state-run broadcaster Turkish Radio and Television Corporation's director general, in Ankara to discuss their complaints about its preferential treatment of the ruling Justice and Development Party and its allies.

  The director stated that the channel believed the airtime report that drew criticism recently was inaccurate. They were individual and unofficial analyses by the Republican People's Party member of the media watchdog Radio and Television High Council, he added.

  Sobacı suggested that comparing the total airtime for President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Republican People's Party leader Özgür Özel would be misleading. For an accurate analysis, he believed one should disregard Erdoğan's appearances as president and Justice and Development Party leader.

★ According to the Istanbul Chamber of Commerce, retail prices in Istanbul increased by 4.07% in February compared to the previous month, translating to an annualized 77% inflation.

  Compared to the previous month, expenditures on culture, education, and entertainment increased by 6.73 percent, while health and personal care rose by 5.58 percent in the megacity. Food also saw an increase of 4.98 percent.

  Wholesale prices surged by 13.53 percent in fuel and energy materials, 11.26 percent in chemicals, and 7.55 percent in construction materials.

★ A101, a Turkish retailer, started selling a low-cost tiny home in Turkey.

  The house cost 399,000 Turkish liras, roughly around US$13,000.

  A101 has 12,000 stores in 81 provinces of Turkey.

  The average home price in Turkey increased by 84% in 2023.

★ Turkey's state-run Meat and Milk Board stores offered inexpensive meat compared to the supermarkets and butchers this week. Long lines of people queued up before the stores opened. When the stores opened, they ran out of meat quickly.

  The Meat and Milk Board stores sell meat at almost half the price of supermarkets and butchers.

★ Trade Minister Ömer Bolat announced that Turkey's exports increased by 13.6 percent in February compared to the same month of last year and reached 22 billion dollars, the highest February export value in history.

  In the same period, imports fell by 8.5 percent to 28.87 billion dollars.

  Treasury and Finance Minister Mehmet Şimşek said, "The balancing in the economy continues."

★ The work to bring the Tariria Culture-Art-Gastronomy Project to fruition started.

  The project will be in a newly built structure overlooking Lake Van in eastern Turkey. An emigree financed the building, and award-winning architect Kay Ngee Tan, founder of global firm Kay Ngee Tan Architects, designed it.

  The name of the project has an ancient root:

  Tariria is on the shores of Lake Van, opposite Mount Süphan, very close to Akdamar Island, in the geography of those inspired by the Urartians who established the Urartian Kingdom, a state founded around Lake Van and existed between 840-590 BCE.

  According to legend, the 51 km long Menua Irrigation Canal, considered one of the wonders of Anatolian and world water engineering, was built by the Urartian King Menua. According to some, it was for his daughter, and according to others, Tariria, his wife.

★ On March 28, Tekfen Philharmonic, one of Turkey's few private art institutions, will stage the Turkish premiere of Maurice Ravel's ballet "Daphnis and Khloe," one of his most important works, and according to some sources, his "choreographic symphony."

  Under the direction of Permanent Conductor Aziz Shokhakimov, the orchestra will perform this magical work of Ravel, who transcribed the two-thousand-year-old love story of the ancient Greek writer Longos into notes for orchestra.

  The MAGMA Philharmonic Choir, under the direction of Masis Aram Gözbek, will accompany.

  Merve Dizdar, Turkey's Cannes award-winning theater artist, will accompany with narration.

★ "Timeless Curiosities" exhibition at Istanbul Modern.

  The exhibition, which focuses on digital culture, brings together artists whose works contain original elements and demonstrate innovations in their productions while preserving their experimental perspectives.

  Nescafé sponsors the exhibition, which reflects the digital transformation affecting our lives from the perspectives of the artists who witnessed this process.

  Exhibition started on February 15, 2024 and runs until August 11, 2024.

★ Organized by the General Directorate of State Opera and Ballet of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the International Bodrum Ballet Festival, which brings together ballet and modern dance companies from Turkey and the world with art lovers, will be between August 3-21 this year with the contributions of İş Bank.

  Held since 2003 in Bodrum in Southwestern Turkey, it is the first and only ballet festival in Turkey.

  Bodrum is a tourism and holiday destination and a city with rich culture and art activities. This year, as had been every year, the event will be a colorful festival where music and dance will blend.

  There will also be an art festival with performances.

★ On May 21, the Istanbul Music Festival starts with the theme "Roots."

  The festival will host distinguished world orchestras and soloists in 25 concerts in the most special Istanbul concert venues.

  The Festival will feature renowned ensembles such as Budapest Festival Orchestra, Festival Strings Lucerne, Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic Orchestra, Tekfen Philharmonic Orchestra, Mantova Chamber Orchestra, Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra, Hungarian National Choir, and Borusan Quartet.

  More than 60 artists, including soloists such as Maria João Pires, Khatia Buniatishvili, Francesco Piemontesi, Jean-Guihen Queyras, István Várdai, Gülsin Onay, Edgar Moreau, Kristóf Baráti, and Roby Lakatos will meet the audience.

★ Albayrak Group sent its calligraphy collection to other countries in 2022 and 2023, bringing together art lovers in Albania, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, and Tanzania.

  In 2024, the first international stop of the exhibition was in Tunisia between February 22 and 28.

  See photos from the exhibition >> here <<

★ Bocuse d'Or, Gastronomy's "World Cup," qualifiers begin.

  French chef Paul Bocuse, the pioneer of the Nouvelle Cuisine movement that emerged in the 1970s, launched the Bocuse d'Or, or Golden Bocuse competition in 1987.

  The competition of chef Bocuse, who had three Michelin stars until his death, is the gastronomy equivalent of the World Cup in soccer. Chefs from 20 European countries will compete in the European section of Bocuse d'Or. Chef Emre İnanır, who won the Turkish auditions at Gastronometro, Turkey's first gastronomy discovery platform, will represent Turkey.

★ A Turkish antique bookshop is in a trademark row with French luxury brand Hermès.

  French luxury brand Hermès has launched a trademark lawsuit against the bookstore "Hermes Sahaf" in Turkey's Aegean İzmir province. Store owner Ümit Nar rejected the claims and held that no corporations could monopolize the mythological Hermes figure.

  The legal saga began when bookstore owner Ümit Nar applied to trademark "Hermes Sahaf" in December 2021. Turkey representatives of Hermés wanted to ban Nar from using the name for commercial purposes.

  Company lawyers claimed that the two brands were similar and could be confused with one another, even though they belonged to different sectors. The first hearing of the case took place in January 2024.

  The incident attracted attention in the French press as well. A February 6 report by France24 interviewed Nar about the ongoing legal battle.

  Nar opposed the claims of trademark violation, "Hermes is part of the cultural heritage of humanity, just like Zeus or Santa Claus. No company should monopolize such figures imprinted on our collective memory."

  The shop owner also found the claim of similarity made by Hermes lawyers absurd. He said, "I could understand the complaint if I was selling shoes or clothing branded as Hermes. But our sectors are too different. Hermès sells luxury leather bags worth thousands of Euros, whereas I sell second-hand books worth 15 Turkish liras, or 45 Euro cents." He suggested the brand insulted its customers by claiming they could confuse the two brands.

★ Yaren the stork is back in Turkey and met with her fisherman friend for the 13th year in a row, the Turkish daily Duvar reported.

  Every year, Yaren flies from Africa back to the Eskikaraağaç village in the Bursa province of Turkey. She meets with fisherman Adem Yilmaz there, and the two go fishing in Lake Uluabat.

  The fisherman shares some of his catch with Yaren.

  The municipality erected a statue depicting the stork and the fishermen on a boat at the central Square of the village where the two live.

  Since 2020, Yaren started bringing her partner to the boat.

  The municipality also runs a WebCam showing Yaren's nest. The URL is http://www.yarenleylek.com.

  The story of the friendship found its way to the textbooks in Austria and Germany. In Greece, Greeks made a shadow play about the two.

  In 2019, Burak Doğansoysal, a Turkish photographer and filmmaker, made the documentary "Uncle Adem and Yaren the Stork" about the unusual friendship between the fisherman and the stork. The jury selected the film as the Best Feature Documentary at the 2020 Prague Film Awards.

  Watch the documentary >> here <<

★ After years of abandonment, the historical Bulgur Palace mansion in Istanbul has been reopened as a cultural and art center by the opposition-run Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality, reports the Turkish daily Duvar.

  The mansion is on Istanbul's Kocamustafapaşa Hill.

  The inauguration features an exhibition by Magnum Photos, the globally acclaimed photography agency. The exhibition consists of over 200 works of renowned photographers and delves into the extensive archive of Magnum Photos.

  The structure takes its name from the 1878 Bolu-born Mehmet Habib Bey. He commissioned renowned Italian architect Guilio Mongeri to construct the "Bolulu Habib Bey Mansion" in 1912.

  However, people generally call the building the "Bulgur Palace," as Habib Bey allegedly made his fortune selling bulgur during the First World War.

  See a video about the Bulgur Palace: