Experts back from assessing damage at the museum in Palmyra offered grim new details April 16 about the extent of the destruction caused by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group during the 10 months it ruled the ancient town.

Authorities have allocated 6 million Turkish Liras to clean up Lake Uzungöl, a major tourist attraction in the eastern Black Sea region in Trabzon, the Forestry and Water Affairs Ministry announced April 14. Efforts to remove mud and sediment from the lake so as to increase tourism have started.

How offshore firm helped billionaire change the art world for ever?

A large number of artifacts from the Thracian civilization have been unearthed during archaeological excavations which have been continuing for 16 years in the northwestern province of Tekirdağ. The head of Namık Kemal University’s Archaeology Faculty, Prof. Neşe Atik said the archaeological findings from Tekirdağ drew great interest, particularly from abroad. 

Today, the Government has published The Culture White Paper which sets out their vision for the cultural sectors over the coming years.

Istanbul’s interdisciplinary art festival, Pera Fest, which has chosen “Art against Discrimination” as the theme of its 14th edition, opened on March 21 with a poetry & music event at Tiyatro Pera. Despite the general atmosphere of fear and anxiety due to the recent terror attack’s proximity to the event, many of the invited artists attended the festival’s opening event.     

NEW YORK, N.Y. (Mar. 14, 2016) — The 2016 Columbia Global Freedom of Expression Prizes will go to the Supreme Court of Norway and to Professor Yaman Akdeniz, Associate Professor Kerem Altiparmak, and Attorney at Law Serkan Cengiz of Turkey. The awards, established last year by Columbia University President Lee C. Bollinger, recognize judicial decisions and legal representation from around the world that strengthen freedom of expression by promoting international legal norms.

The art market has bounced back worldwide after prices slumped by more than 10 percent last year as investors look for a safer alternative to falling stock markets, the leading index Artprice said on Feb. 26. The world's leading art auction database said figures for the first two months of this year show a strong recovery.

The western appetite for antiquities has always been a motivation for others to loot them. The same individuals who pride themselves on their appreciation of cultural heritage create situations that lead to the pillage of ancient sites, as the trade in illicit artefacts is fuelled by demand. Western buyers purchase antiquities at depressed prices after they have passed hands from looters, smugglers or middlemen, creating greater incentive to loot and smuggle.

Last October, 19 refugees in Berlin were recruited and trained as museum guides to provide native-language tours for fellow refugees, with the aim of helping newly arrived people foster connections between Germany’s cultural heritage and their own. The project is called Multaqa, an Arabic word meaning “meeting point”.