★ Two weeks ago, Abdullah Öcalan, the jailed leader of the Kurdistan Workers Party, called for the rebel group to lay down their arms. The party said it would.

  Devlet Bahçeli, far-right Turkish leader and government ally, described Öcalan's call for the Kurdistan Workers Party to lay down arms as "valuable and important from beginning to end" and considered the Kurdistan Workers Party's statements "pleasing."

  Bahçeli also warned against "efforts to undermine" the process, criticizing "certain malicious actors in the media" for attempting to discredit the disarmament initiative and obstruct steps toward peace. 

  Devlet Bahçeli, in October, 2024started the new process after his unexpected call suggesting that Öcalan announce an end to the insurgency in exchange for the possibility of his release.

  He has been known for his adverse stance against the pro-Kurdish DEM Party and Kurdish politicians, despite meeting with them after the DEM Party delegation began to visit Öcalan in prison.

  Government figures, including President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, started making seemingly reconciliation efforts regarding the Kurdish issue.

  Öcalan was arrested in 1999 and is serving a life sentence in a prison on İmralı Island alongside five other Kurdistan Workers Party convicts.

★ Voice of America had an article about the Erdoğan administration's flirting with the Kurds of Turkey. According to the article, experts say Kurds should remain cautiously hopeful in the new peace process.

  The experts interviewed for the article added that the process mixes with Erdoğan's ambitions to remain in power after the 2028 elections, despite the constitution barring him from running again, and restoration of the peace process is an attempt by Erdoğan to win Kurdish support for drafting a new constitution that will allow him to stay in power.

  In the meantime, on Friday, the Turkish defense minister said the Kurdistan Workers Party must lay down its arms unconditionally.

★ Despite the so-called peace process with the Kurds, President Erdoğan's administration keeps cracking down on Kurds. Here is what happened last week:

  - On March 6, Reuters reported that the Turkish Armed Forces killed 26 Kurdish militants in Iraq and Syria.

  - Authorities detained four Kurdish writers over a Kurdish language learning book prepared in 2008. Officially recognized Kurdish language courses throughout Turkey use the book widely as an educational resource.

  - Authorities charged Dr. Ahmet Özer with membership in the Kurdistan Workers Party and terrorism. He was the mayor of the Esenyurt district of Istanbul. In October 2024, the Justice and Development Party Administration removed him from office.

  - Prosecutors filed a lawsuit against Diren Yurtsever, an executive of a pro-Kurdish news agency, for exposing an informant's identity.

★ Turkish authorities seized a computer from the media company affiliated with the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality during a police raid in the company headquarters as part of an ongoing investigation initiated by the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office.

  The investigation reportedly concerns companies that have won municipal tenders from Medya Inc. The confiscated computer was said to belong to the company's accounting department.

  The same day, police arrested Istanbul's Beykoz District Mayor Alaattin Köseler and municipality officials in a "bid-rigging" investigation.

★ Iran and Turkey summoned their diplomats after a spat over Turkish Foreign Affairs Minister Hakan Fidan's warning of Iran against undermining Syria's stability.

  Fidan last week gave an interview to Qatar's Al Jazeera in which he said Iran's foreign policy relying on militias was "dangerous" and needed to change.

  Recently, Iranian officials have been voicing criticism of Turkey more often in public, Turkey's foreign affairs ministry spokesperson Öncü Keçeli said.

★ A few headlines:

  - On March 7, Turkey's state-run media watchdog signed a protocol with the Istanbul Family Foundation to align media with "family values, protect children, and promote national values as part of the "ongoing fight against LGBT."

  - On March 8, International Women's Day, Beyoglu district authorities in Istanbul banned meetings, demonstrations, press statements, leaflet distribution, and sit-in protests.

  - Washington Post: a Turkish arms firm helped fuel Sudan's brutal civil war, documents show.

  - The Education Directorate in an Istanbul district asked schools to have events for Ramadan, including encouraging fasting and tracking students who did. The teachers' union criticized the move, calling it a religious imposition.

  - Reuters: Turkey is ready to send troops to Ukraine if necessary.

  - Turkey urges Europe to prepare for the post-NATO era and create its security framework without the U.S.

  - Anatolia News Agency: Turkish and Italian defense giants join forces in drone development.

  - On March 4, a Turkish court acquitted five broadcasters from the opposition Halk TV channel regarding their broadcast of a phone call with an expert witness.

★ ECONOMY 

★ Turkey's official statistics institution reported a monthly inflation rate of 2.27 percent in February, with the annual inflation rate dropping to 39.05 percent. However, ENAG, the independent research group, calculated a higher monthly inflation rate of 3.37 percent, with an annualized increase of 79.51 percent.

★ Fifty miners in the Ankara province locked themselves 800 meters underground to protest the privatization of the Çayırhan geothermal power plant and mine ahead of a March 4 tender, vowing to stay until the government reverses the decision.

★ Istanbul Municipality reported that the average cost of living for a family of four in Istanbul increased by 54.47 percent annually in February and reached 85,453 liras (2344 dollars), about four times the minimum wage.

★ Knight Frank, a London-based real estate company, reported that Turkey ranked 25th in the world in the number of dollar millionaires.

  It said that there are over 6100 people in Turkey with a wealth of over 10 million dollars.

★ 1700 workers at three tobacco factories in western Turkey's İzmir province went on strike after failed contract talks, demanding higher wages and better benefits.

  Union leaders accused employers of offering unrealistic proposals and favoring subcontractors.

★ A Turkish court sentenced the manager of Konya Biogas Electricity Production Inc. to jail for obstructing union rights but later converted the sentence to a monetary fine.

  Konya Biogas Electricity Production Inc., the largest in Turkey and Europe's fifth-largest biogas production facility, began operations in October 2019.

  Two hundred people work in the company, and 40 percent have joined the union.    

★ Two months ago, on a YouTube broadcast, Turkish chef Somer Sivrioğlu said, "Turkish cuisine is not revered in the world at all, and it's not in the top 10. It is 90 percent caused by a lack of marketing."

  "A few weeks later, "Sivrioğlu is mostly right," celebrity gourmet Vedat Milor said in tweets but disagreed that Turkish cuisine's lack of popularity was poor marketing.

  Among the top three causes Milor cited are: 

• Severe deterioration in ingredient quality.
• The loss of cosmopolitan cuisines.
• The disruption of the chain of supply.

  Milor most likely referred to the loss of agriculture in Turkey under the ruling Justice and Development Party.

  Nowadays, Turkey imports significant amounts of meat and other ingredients.

  The latest development: Turkey's Ministry of Commerce started investigating Vedat Milor for "advertising" a municipally-run restaurant serving four-course meals for 1.1 dollars.

  The ministry requested Mr. Milor to disclose his revenue from the so-called advertisement.

  Mr. Milor just had a meal at the restaurant to see if the quality was good and publicized his visit on a YouTube video. Since the opposition-run municipality administers the chain of restaurants, analysts say the Erdoğan administration is annoyed at the publicity.

★ Turkey's Culinary Forum recently brought together 4,500 gastronomy and cooking students from 57 universities across Turkey, hotel, restaurant, café, and catering sector leaders, chefs, gastronomy experts, and 163 academics from 74 universities, and hosted 7,000 participants.

  In the opening speech, Murat Aslan, the founding partner of the culinary forum, said that in 2024, the gastronomy tourism sector reached 18 billion dollars in Turkey, up from 5.1 billion dollars in 2021. He said the goal in 2025 is to make this 25 billion dollars.

  Mr. Aslan said that Turkey has 658 registered geographical foods.

★ Chef Ebru Baybara Demir, who has made a name for herself with her pioneering work in gastronomy, met with students and academics at Yale University to introduce Turkish cuisine.

  Ms. Demir made presentations on Turkish cuisine and social gastronomy projects and brought six dishes from Turkey's traditional flavors to Yale kitchens.

  Among these, the Turkish bulgur attracted the most attention. Bulgur is parboiled, dried, and then cracked wheat. Turks use it as a substitute for rice and more. Food scientists say that it is more nutritious than rice.

★ After nine years of research, chef Refika Birgül, Burak Arpak, and their team prepared the book "Heritage: Turkish Cuisine Techniques-1."

  The book examines the foundations of Turkish cuisine through techniques rather than recipes.

  The work aims to reveal the deep-rooted history of Turkish culinary culture while addressing the basic principles of the cooking process in detail.

★ Turkish painter and academician Prof. Hüsamettin Koçan, the founder of the Baksı Museum in Bayburt's Bayraktar village, presents his new exhibition Behind the Shadow at Istanbul's MERKUR Gallery, reports the ArtDog Istanbul.

  In the exhibition, Koçan blends the traditional products produced by Bayburt women with creativity and patience with his unique artistic language.

  For the art he exhibits, he took his inspiration from the crochet work of the village women.

★ Turkish actor Ferhan Şensoy's theater legacy is being brought to life as a documentary by Porte Film Production with the sponsorship of ENKA Sanat, the cultural arm of Enka Holding, an international Turkish construction company.

  Selçuk Metin is the project director, Zeynep Miraç, a journalist-author, wrote the script and Emre Okur is the director of photography.

  The shootings have been taking place at the Ses Theater, a building from 1885, which Ferhan Şensoy spearheaded its restoration.

  The theater, which the artist called his "home," will reflect the spirit of the documentary.

  ENKA Art Director Gül Mimaroğlu emphasized Ferhan Şensoy's theatrical legacy and shared the artist's words from the opening night of Ses Theater in 1989.

★ Turkish art historian Dr. Nurhan Atasoy's book "Turkish Bath" examines the Ottoman bath culture in detail from its origins to the present day.

  The work evaluates the 16th-century Hürrem Sultan Bath as a prominent example and explains the history of water and purification in a comprehensive manner.

  Commissioned by Hürrem Sultan, the wife of Sultan Süleyman the Magnificent, the architect of the bath was the renowned Ottoman architect Mimar Sinan.

  In her book, Dr. Atasoy emphasizes that the bath culture in the Ottoman Empire was not only a ritual of cleansing and purification but also an essential part of social life.

  The book reveals how baths were places with different functions for men and women during the Ottoman era and how they became social centers in a wide range, from palaces to public baths.

  How travelers and artists perceived the Ottoman baths, how bath depictions found their place in European art, and the bath habits that spread from the Ottoman Empire to Europe constitute one of the book's sections.

  Renowned Ottoman traveler Evliya Çelebi's narratives and observations of European travelers provide a valuable source for understanding how the Ottomans shaped the bath culture in the light of historical documents.

★ Mehmet Nuri Ersoy, Turkey's Minister of Culture, announced that archaeologists unearthed a Hermes statue in Aspendos, an antique city in southern Turkey on the Mediterranean.

  Hermes is an Olympian deity in ancient Greek religion and mythology, considered the herald of the gods.

  Experts think the marble statue is 1800 years old.

★ Throughout March, world-renowned Turkish pianist and State Artist Gülsin Onay will meet with music lovers throughout Turkey.

  Ms. Onay will have diverse programs, from solo concerts to symphonic performances, master classes to seminars, and crown the first days of the spring with music.

★ Erdemir, one of Turkey's leading steel producers, continues to support art. The application process for the 8th Steel and Life Sculpture Competition began.

  The competition aims to contribute to the use of steel through art and encourage creative production by supporting young sculptors.

  This year's theme is "A Green Heritage for the Future: Zero Carbon."

Ankara, in central Turkey        : 68/39 Mostly Sunny
Antalya, on the Mediterranean    : 70/54 Mostly Sunny
Erzurum, in Eastern Turkey       : 43/21 Partly Cloudy
Istanbul, in northwestern Turkey : 55/41 Mostly Sunny
Izmir, on the Aegean             : 66/48 Mostly Sunny
Trabzon, on the Black Sea        : 54/41 Mostly Sunny

Erciyes in Kayseri, Central Turkey      : 31 inches
Ilgaz in Kastamonu, North Central Turkey: 13 inches
Kartalkaya in Bolu, Western Turkey      : 62 inches
Palandöken in Erzurum, Eastern Turkey   : 59 inches
Uludağ in Bursa, Western Turkey         : 42 inches
Sarıkamış in Kars, Eastern Turkey       : 42 inches