Selected Works

The building that Atatürk dreamt of, where Turkey staged its first opera and where Reza Shah wept at the curtain call, has spent decades haunted by a different kind of drama: hundreds of paintings stolen, copied, distributed to bureaucrats and sold through criminal networks. A full account of one of Turkey's most remarkable institutions — and its most painful wound. Originally built in the 1920s as the headquarters of the Turkish Hearth (Türk Ocağı), this building is known as

From the British Royal Family to the United Nations, the world sent money to Turkey after the February 2023 earthquakes. For decades before that, Turkey collected a dedicated earthquake levy from its citizens. Three years on, more than 360,000 people remain in temporary housing — and those who have received new homes are paying for them in instalments. We investigate why. More than 53,000 people died and over 107,000 were injured in two earthquakes that struck southeastern Tu

Where Turkey's first state-licensed brothels once stood, archaeologists have unearthed an Ottoman bathhouse, a Roman theatre and a cache of medieval medallions — revealing a capital city far older, and far richer, than its grey modern reputation suggests. The restoration work on the walls of Ankara Castle was completed in 2025/Photo: Gökçen Tuncer Bentderesi is a neighbourhood that has carried the weight of history on its narrow shoulders for millennia — Hittite traders, Roma

In Scotland, menstrual products such as sanitary pads and tampons are now available free of charge. In Turkey, however, the cost of the same products has risen sharply over the past decade. According to UNWomen, period poverty is the lack of access to menstrual products, education, and sanitation facilities, affecting millions globally. Photo: Pexels.com/ @karola-g The menstrual cycle — more commonly known as menstruation or a period — is a biological process fundamental to h

Some dismiss it outright; others plan their lives around every word it offers. As its popularity accelerated, financial astrology has become an increasingly visible field. Astrologer Hande Kazanova explains what it is—and what it suggests for Turkey. Photo: Pexels/@davegarcia When people want to invest their savings, they usually turn to familiar sources. An economist on television.A market analyst on social media.A banker friend.A relative who insists Bitcoin will rise again

A planned shipbreaking operation in western Turkey has reignited debate over asbestos—an industrial material once widely used but now known to cause deadly diseases. Ship dismantling and recycling operations have been ongoing at the Aliağa port in İzmir since 1976. Improvements in health and environmental conditions began after the 2000s. / Photo: Reuters A decommissioned aircraft carrier built during the Cold War has become the centre of a heated environmental debate in Turk

Nestled in the sunbaked plains of Şanlıurfa province, the town of Harran is a region that is as valuable as Göbeklitepe. While archaeologists have excavated its underground treasures for seven decades, Harran’s above-ground jewels — its iconic beehive-shaped “kümbet” houses — remain largely in the background. For the Özyavuz family, protecting these structures has been a lifelong mission. The Harran Dome Houses were registered as an archaeological and urban site in 1979. Harr

Once a penniless hitchhiker crossing Anatolia, Joschka Fischer returned to Turkey in 2023 as a keynote speaker at the İzmir Economic Congress. Germany's former foreign minister spoke to Independent Turkish about Turkey's place in the world, brain drain, the NATO crisis. Joschka Fischer first came to Turkey in 1990ss with nothing but a rucksack and a plan to hitchhike his way through the Middle East. He was a young anarchist who had sailed around Gibraltar on a passenger shi

For Turkey, paper has long been more than a commodity—it has been a symbol of the nation’s sovereignty and ambition. Yet today, rising import costs, shuttered factories, and fluctuating exchange rates threaten a once-proud industry. The first products of the paper factory established in Izmit in the mid-1930s / Photo: AA (Archive) Paper, which dramatically changed the form of communication when it was discovered thousands of years ago, has been at the center of debates for ma

Journalist and documentary filmmaker Hasan Söylemez paused his bicycle journey across all 54 African nations to make his first feature-length film. Tenere tells the story of those who must cross the Desert of Deserts just to survive. 20 October 2011. The world watches the end of a 42-year reign through a mobile phone camera. The final images of the longest-serving leader in the Arab and African world enter history while his face is covered in blood, his lifeless, wound-ri

Despite signs of improvement in water quality, volunteer divers in Istanbul say the city’s seas still conceal thousands of tonnes of rubbish — from tyres and batteries to construction debris — highlighting the scale of marine pollution. According to RTS report, the estimates show that over 1 million marine animals die each year due to plastic pollution in the ocean/ Photo: Pexels/Şemsi Belli More than two decades after the United Nations declared 22 March as World Water Day,

As the world races to secure dwindling natural resources, a new industry is looking far beyond the planet—toward asteroids rich in water and precious metals. Conceptual image of an Artemis Moon mission/Image: NASA ( This article received the Golden Pen Award from the Turkish Economy Reporters Association in 2017 ) Humanity’s search for resources may soon extend beyond Earth. According to a July 2016 report by the United Nations, global consumption of natural resources has tri

Richard Falk, emeritus professor of international law at Princeton University and former United Nations Special Rapporteur on Palestinian human rights, assessed Turkey's rapprochement with Israel and the Gulf, the war in Ukraine, American unipolarity — and what he calls Washington's "Monroe Doctrine for the World." U.S. President Joe Biden and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan talk in Indonesia during the G20 Summit on November 15, 2022. © Getty Images Richard Falk - for

The rise of the price tags is the visible face of inflation. But there is another, quieter form of price increase happening at the same time: Packages are getting smaller while prices stay the same, or even rise. According to U.S. Government Accountability Office, c onsumers often pay 12% to 32% more for products (e.g., snacks, paper goods) because of the shrinkflation/ Photo: Reuters Where there is inflation, the products you buy from the market don't just get more expensive

Can globalization be a source of unhappiness? Helena Norberg-Hodge, a pioneer of the localization movement, spoke about the effects of globalization and the methods of a “happiness economy.” According to Hodge, people in Sweden suffer from loneliness, while many in Turkey feel unhappy because they see their economic situation as inadequate. Approximately 251 million children and youth worldwide are out of school, according to a 2024 UNESCO report/ Photo: Pexels/ Harsha Vardha

Doomscrolling — the compulsive act of consuming an endless feed of catastrophic news — was named one of Oxford Dictionary's words of 2020. Psychologists say the more anxious we become, the more we seek out news that confirms our fears. Breaking the cycle may be harder than it sounds. According to The Center for Internet & Technology Addiction 58% of teens report anxiety when separated from their phones./Photo: Pexels.com/@cottonbro For a few weeks at the start of the pandem

With millions facing food insecurity and traditional agriculture straining under climate pressure, scientists and entrepreneurs are experimenting with a surprising frontier: farming beneath the sea. Photo: nemosgarden.com The idea sounds like science fiction: vegetables growing in glass domes anchored to the seabed, nourished by desalinated seawater and sunlight filtering through the waves. But in the waters off Italy’s Riviera, it is already a reality. The project, known as

As countries accelerate their transition to renewable energy, researchers warn that the global energy system is still deeply tied to oil. But a growing movement argues that decentralised renewables could shift power—from fossil fuel states and corporations to citizens. Photo: Unsplash.com/@thomasrichter For decades, the global energy system has been shaped by oil. But the rise of renewable energy is not just about reducing carbon emissions. For some scholars and activists, it

On 11 July 2021, British billionaire Richard Branson flew to the edge of space. Nine days later, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos followed. According to Oxfam, during the 11 minutes Bezos was in space, 121 people died of hunger. In March 2026, Forbes magazine listed Richard Branson's estimated net worth at US$2,8 billion. Photo: Joe Skipper/Reuters The original space race of the 1960s was a geopolitical rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union. Today, the competition l

Doughnut Economics is a model developed by British academic Kate Raworth. Considered a “radical idea” just five years ago, the model is now on the radar of many urban administrations. Photo: Unsplash/@aesullivan2010 For decades, modern economics has been built on a simple promise: economies will continue to grow, and that growth will eventually reduce poverty. But according to British economist Kate Raworth, the idea that economies can expand indefinitely on a finite planet i