With one half in Asia and the other in Europe, the cultural hub of Turkey has long depended on two bridges to link the city over the Bosphorus Straits (above). But a proposed third one has raised the ire of…
Farmers in northeastern Turkey are furious at the government’s plans to flood the verdant region with eight hydroelectric dams. According to the Hurriyet Daily News, Turkey is scrambling to meet its energy needs, and the Macahel basin is one of…
As part of its long bid for European Union membership, Turkey has announced that 74 pesticides are off limits because they are poisonous. The Hurriyet Daily News reports that the EU has a list of 135 illegal chemicals, and Turkey…
Although Smart Grids (electric networks based on renewable energy) are going up in the US and Europe, the World Bank is only now investing in green energy technology with a program in Turkey. At the end of May, the Bank…
The global ecologically friendly building trend is taking hold in Turkey as well, according to the English-language daily Hurriyet News and Economic Review. We’ve covered Turkey’s water agreements with Iraq, along with the country’s hard line against coastline development. Green…
If you think that WWOOF is the sound that a dog makes… well, you’re right. But it also stands for “Willing Workers On Organic Farms,” or “World-Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms.” So keep your ears tuned in for that term,…
One of America’s most enduring gifts to the Middle East is the suburban indoor shopping mall. Israel’s first was the Ayalon Center outside of Tel Aviv (1986). Istanbul saw the Atakoy Mall go up in 1987. Jordan’s pioneer was Amman’s…
The Turkish Tourism and Culture Ministry is turning the western Bodrum Peninsula into an official tourism site. The peninsula, located not far from the city of Izmir, will not be turned into a “concrete jungle” the ministry head, Ertuğrul Günay…
If we’d thought that talk about global warming in the Middle East should stay in the future tense, news from Syria suggests a lot is going to change in these parts, and fast. A climate change domino effect has caused…
A UN worldwide tree planting campaign has now reached the 4 billion mark in its drive to plant 7 billion trees world wide. The campaign is being undertaken to fight the effects of climate change; as well as to prevent…