★ On February 6, on the anniversary of the Turkish earthquakes, Reuters wrote: "Two years after the quake disaster, Turkey's painful recovery continues."

  Hundreds of thousands of people congregated in numerous venues throughout Turkey to give their respects to the people killed.

  In one rally, participants held banners reading "It is not the earthquake but negligence that kills" and "Earthquake is not destiny," the Turkish daily Duvar reported.

  Reuters said it was the deadliest and most destructive earthquake in modern Turkish history. It added that hundreds of thousands of people are still away from their homes, many in temporary housing. Read the details >> here <<

  The official death toll is 55,000, but analysis by engineers and experts put it much higher. One expert claimed it killed as much as 500,000 people.

  The government's program to build new homes for the survivors is lagging behind the target of 650,000. On Monday, President Erdoğan said they delivered around 201,000 only.

  Bianet, an independent Turkish news outlet, also wrote about the earthquake. It covered Hatay, one of the hardest-hit provinces of Turkey. Nearly 225,000 people live in tiny dwellings (only 226 square feet) made of shipping containers. Some also live in yurts, the Central Asian round tents donated by Kyrgyzstan. Read the details >> here <<

★ On Tuesday, Ahmed al-Sharaa, Syria's new interim leader, met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in Ankara, VOA reported.

  The two discussed improved security ties and how to respond to the US-ally Syrian Democratic Forces made up of Kurdish fighters in northeastern Syria.

  The Kurdish militia, which Turkey considers an extension of the rebel Turkish Kurds, is fighting forces backed by Turkey.

  Turkish President also asked Sharaa to remove the Islamic State militants in Syria.

★ On February 7, the Istanbul Governor's Office rejected the application of the main opposition Republican People's Party to organize a march named "From River To The Sea, Palestine will be free" at the megacity's historic Galata Bridge.

  Pro-government groups used the same bridge for similar protests two times recently.

  The march was for February 9.

★ It seems like the Justice and Development Party administration led by President Erdoğan is bent on driving Ekrem İmamoğlu, the popular mayor of metropolitan Istanbul, out of politics.

  Mr. İmamoğlu could be a potential rival for President Erdoğan in the next presidential elections.

  To achieve their goal, prosecutors, supposed to be independent but often goaded by the administration, have targeted him with trumped-up charges.

  The latest indictment came this week. According to the Turkish daily Duvar, a Turkish prosecutor's office sought seven years and four months in prison and a political ban for Mayor İmamoğlu for insulting, threatening, and targeting Istanbul chief public prosecutor Akın Gürlek.

  İmamoğlu's recent remarks in his speech that criticized the detention of Cem Aydın, the head of the opposition Republican People's Party youth branch, triggered the indictment.

  In his speech, Mr. İmamoğlu said: "We will dismantle (this mindset) so that no one can detain your children from your house in the morning."

  ★Istanbul chief prosecutor's office was in the news for another matter:

  It requested the Radio and Television Supreme Council to send records of broadcasts from media organizations that allegedly made propaganda-like broadcasts during the 2013 Gezi Park protests.

  The request came as part of the ongoing investigation of Ayşe Barım, a talent agent detained recently by the police with charges that she coerced renowned actors into participating in the countrywide Gezi Park protests.

  The prosecution claimed that some media outlets portrayed the Gezi Park protests as "legal" and contributed to the spread of social unrest.

  The Gezi Park protests began in Istanbul in 2013 as a reaction to plans for urban development that would have destroyed one of the few green spaces left in the highly developed city.

  The unrest quickly spread throughout Turkey, evolving into widespread demonstrations against the erosion of press freedom, free speech, and the right to assemble.

  Protesters also expressed concerns about the ruling Justice and Development Party's efforts to dismantle Turkey's secularism.

★ An Istanbul prosecutor launched an investigation against parliamentarian Cemal Enginyurt for alleged insults and threats toward President Erdoğan during a Republican People's Party meeting.

  Mr. Enginyurt recently joined the Republican People's Party's ranks after resigning from the Democrat Party.

★ Turkish President Erdoğan has suggested that they might impose age restrictions on social media platforms.

  "Screen addiction, which is spreading like a plague in society, is also at the top of our agenda," he said.

  Turkish government banned access to social media platform Instagram in early August for nearly one week and has been since increasing its pressure on alternative media and digital platforms.

★ The Istanbul Planning Agency affiliated with the Istanbul Municipality has calculated the average cost of living for a family of four in the megacity in January as 2,304 US dollars.

  It is nearly four times the new minimum wage.

  An independent inflation research group calculated the 2024 inflation as 81 percent. The government claims that it was only 42 percent.

  Last month, the Turkish government announced a 30-percent hike in the minimum wage for 2025, a figure below the annual inflation rate.

★ On February 26, for the third time, the gastronomy industry will come together at the "Culinary Forum." Organizers determined "XPERIENCE" as the name of the theme.

  The event will be at Nirvana Cosmopolitan Hotel in Turkey's Mediterranean Antalya city. Approximately 4,500 gastronomy and culinary students from 57 universities, as well as leading names in the industry, chefs, gastronomy experts, and academicians, will attend the event and share their experiences with students.

  Also, the networking and portfolio meetings will help gastronomy and culinary arts students determine new career choices.

  Murat Aslan, founder of Culinary Forum, stated that as the quality of gastronomy education in Turkey has increased, the number of gastronomy and culinary arts departments in universities increased also.

  He said in 2024, the number of universities with gastronomy and culinary arts departments increased to 101, and the number of departments increased to 113, and they have approximately 65 thousand students in the field in Turkey.

  "Academics and chefs wrote a book together. The content of the book published last year was about industrial kitchen design, and this year's subject will be 'coffee.' We distributed these books to all gastronomy universities in Turkey," he added.

★ According to the Turkish daily Duvar, on February 1, the "Kαρσί/Karşı" gathering, organized through a partnership between Anadolu Kültür and Greek art collectives NOUCMAS and TAVROS, took place in Turkey's Aegean province of İzmir.

  The event explored the intersecting perspectives of history, memory, subjectivity, migration, and ecology in the Northern Aegean.

  Representatives from various civil society organizations and a large audience attended. Artistic initiatives from both shores of the Aegean will meet throughout 2025 as part of the "Kαρσί/Karşı" project, designed to mark the 100th anniversary of the population exchange between Greece and Turkey.

  The project title "Kαρσί/Karşı" holds dual meanings in Greek and Turkish, signifying both "opposite" and "oppositional."

  Read more >> here <<

★ Istanbul has an interesting museum on the Golden Horn: The Rahmi M. Koç Museum.

  I have been there twice, and I don't mind going there every time on my frequent visits to Turkey.

  Born out of the private collection of Rahmi M. Koç, a prominent businessman, the museum collection includes thousands of objects that have witnessed the history of transportation, industry, and communication.

  Celebrating its 30th anniversary, the museum has a new exhibition called the Horsepower.

  The Turkish magazine ArtDog Istanbul writes that the exhibition has approximately 1000 artifacts and images in the form of horses selected from different geographies and cultures from the second century BCE to the present.

  There are also many colorful and interesting items such as horse puppets used in Far Eastern puppet theaters, as temple decorations, French, British, and American carousel horses, terra-cotta and ceramic horses from China and Thailand, check and rocking toy horses, metal horses, and modern horse figures.

★ The 21st Akbank Short Film Festival will start on March 17 this year.

  Zeki Demirkubuz, a Turkish film director, screenwriter, producer, and film editor, is the guest of honor at this year's festival. Six of his films received awards in festivals around the globe, reports the magazine ArtDog Istanbul.

  The Oscars chose his movie "Life" as the candidate for the Best International Film award. The film will meet the Turkish audience in the "Experiences" section of the Akbank Short Film Festival.

  The Documentary Cinema section will host Sahra Mani, one of the most powerful voices in documentary filmmaking, known for her bold works addressing social realities in Afghanistan. The festival will screen her internationally acclaimed film "A Thousand Girls Like Me" with the director in attendance.

  In the From Short to Feature section, this year's guest will be director Vuslat Saraçoğlu. She will share insights from her cinematic journey through screenings of her debut feature film "Debt," which won the Best Film award at the 37th International Istanbul Film Festival, and her short documentary "Father Müslüm's Sons."

  The festival venue will be the Akbank Art premises and Kadıköy Cinema.

  The festival, organized by Akbank Art, the cultural arm of the Turkish bank Akbank, will be through March 27.

★ Turkish artist Gökhan Tüfekçi has a new solo exhibition titled "May Our Devil Be Abundant" at MeshRu, a meeting point for artists and art lovers in Istanbul's Pera neighborhood.

  Tüfekçi formally interprets concepts belonging to popular and arabesque culture with miniature and street art practice.

  In his works, the artist uses myths, tales, and past and present folk legends of the Turkish homeland and brings together people and events he selects from these stories.

  Tüfekçi, who utilizes the perspective and stacking style in miniature art in his works, goes beyond the canvases with his intense use of colors and figures – some three-dimensional – and spreads to the entire exhibition area.

  He introduces his works, ranging from street jargon to childhood images, from shadow plays to slogans, to the audience with an irony he visualizes around the concept of the absurd.

  Tüfekçi's exhibition will be through March 16.