Libya has not faced the same risk to its antiquities as Syria and Iraq, though there is evidence the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) is involved in the smuggling of antiquities, Libyan and international experts said May 11.  Libya is rich in ancient sites, including some of North Africa’s finest Roman and Greek ruins, as well as prehistoric rock art in the desert region of Fezzan.

Officials from Istanbul’s Beyoğlu Municipality have forced the owners of a hotel to shut down a rooftop screen playing a video by the artist Işıl Eğrikavuk, citing “visual pollution.”The work titled “Time to Sing a New Song” was on display at YAMA, a public art installation series screened on top of Istanbul’s Marmara Pera hotel.

Hotel investments in Turkey plunged by 42 percent in the first quarter of the year from the same period of 2015, according to the Hotel Association of Turkey (TÜROB). Subsidy documents worth 645.3 million Turkish Liras were obtained for the establishment of 53 new hotel projects in 27 cities, according to a TÜROB statement released on May 5.

Turkey will speed up works to develop “halal tourism” in a bid to lure even more Muslim tourists, Culture and Tourism Minister Mahir Ünal said at the opening of the Halal Tourism Conference 2016 in the Central Anatolian province of Konya. Ünal said Turkey is stepping up its efforts to boost halal tourism, which has a share of around 12 percent in the global tourism. 

Some 70 large pools are planned to be built across the Turkish capital as part of a project expected to cost around 15 million Turkish Liras ($5.4 million), as part of the Ankara Municipality’s latest eccentric urban planning scheme. According to the details, a total of 70 pools up to 875-cm in length will be built across the capital, decorated in line with drawings included in the tender specifications. 

Kaleiçi, the historic city center in the southern province of Antalya’s Muratpaşa district, will be submitted to UNESCO in May for inclusion on the World Heritage List. The historic district has a rich history, from the Pergamon Kingdom through the Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman periods. 

Turkey’s main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) has announced the findings of a fresh education report, claiming that more than 2 million students between 6 and 18 years of age do not have access to compulsory education, totaling 14 percent of the country’s total population of the age group.

The number of foreign arrivals to Turkey declined approximately 13 percent in March to 1.65 million compared to the same month of 2015, the sharpest drop since October 2006, amid rising security concerns and dramatic decrease in the number of Russian tourists. 

A new road project has been launched to promote tourism in the ancient city of Şuayb near the border with Syria in Şanlıurfa. Resembling the ancient city of Ephesus on the Aegean, Şuayb is considered one of the most important historical places in the province. 

Works have been initiated again to further open a hidden tunnel, which was discovered during restoration work in the Tokat Castle, also known as the dungeon of Dracula. Restoration work at the castle, Turkey’s second-largest castle in the northern province of Tokat, started in 2009 by the Tokat Governor’s Office Provincial Culture and Tourism Directorate, in order to open the castle to tourism.