* According to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, a Palestinian man burst into the Turkish Embassy in Tel Aviv on Tuesday and threatened to set it, and himself, on fire if he were not granted asylum. He was eventually overpowered after an embassy guard shot him in the leg, wounding him lightly.
  Turkish embassy officials did not let the police or the health officials enter the embassy building for some time, awaiting orders from Ankara regarding what to do with the intruder, eventually releasing the man to an Israeli ambulance crew to be taken to a hospital.
  The man was identified as Nadim Injaz, 32, of Ramallah, who has pulled a similar stunt four years ago by barricading himself inside the British Embassy in Tel Aviv, also demanding asylum.

* According to Sri Lankan News, an Israeli officer was remanded over thefts from the Turkish flotilla that was seized by Israeli commandos in May as it headed towards Gaza.
  Journalists complained computers and satellite phones were taken from them by Israeli soldiers when they took over the flotilla. Six Israeli soldiers and an officer have been arrested in Israel in relation to the thefts. The officer, whose identity has not been released, appeared before a military court on Friday where he was remanded.
  Nine Turkish activists were killed in the raid which has strained relations between Turkey and Israel, and resulted in five investigations being initiated including one by the Israeli government, and another by the UN.

* Turkish daily Turkiye reports that Turkish President Abdullah Gul brushed aside press reports that President Barack Obama warned Turkey it could lose its chance to obtain US-made weapons over its position on Israel and Iran.
  The Financial Times reported on Sunday that President Obama warned Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan about the issue during a meeting in Toronto at the G-20 gathering in late June, just weeks after the flotilla incident with Israel and Turkey voting against imposing new sanctions on Iran at the UN Security Council. Mr. Erdogan also played down the FT report, saying that Turkey enjoys very good relations with the US.
  On Monday, The White House, too, denied the reports claiming Washington warned Ankara that weapons sales to Turkey would be jeopardized if it didn't change its position on Israel and Iran.

* Turkish daily Hurriyet reports that Turkey and the US have increased the frequency of talks over the use of Turkish soil for the transfer of American troops, arms and logistics equipment out of Iraq, Turkish Foreign Ministry sources said yesterday.
  Some US military equipment has already been transferred through Turkey since last year under an agreement that allows Incirlik Airbase to be used by US forces as a logistics hub. There are reportedly plans to establish an aerial bridge between southeast Turkey and the base to transfer troops and equipment coming from Iraq.

* The Turkish daily Turkiye reports that, Turkey will take over the rotating presidency of the 15-member UN Security Council on September 1st for one month, as talks on a standoff over Iran's nuclear program are expected to resume.
  Turkey, during its term presidency, chose Peacekeeping as the topic of the September meeting. A summit on the Millennium Development Goals will also take place on the sidelines of the General Assembly. Turkey became a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council in 2009, and its two-year term in the powerful world body closes at the end of this year.

* Reuters reports that the U.S. futures regulator said on Wednesday it will allow U.S. investors to buy and sell a futures contract on the Turkish Derivatives Exchange that tracks the Istanbul Stock Exchange 30 Stock Index.
  The market capitalization of the ISE-30 was approximately $58.2 billion as of July 9. The ISE-30 is a composite index of 30 actively traded stocks listed on the Istanbul exchange, accounting for 70 percent of Turkey's market volume and market capitalization.
  Turkish stocks have recently traded at record highs, with the exchange's index of top 100 stocks rising almost 14 percent this year.

* Renowned Brazilian jazz singer Tania Maria will give a concert as part of the 10th Culture & Art Festival in popular resort town of Side in the southern Turkish province of Antalya. Tania Maria to greet Turkish audience in ancient temple. The concert will take place at the ancient temple of Apollo on August 28.
  Read more at: http://www.cumhuriyet.com/

* According to the Anatolia News Agency, Archaeologists excavating the Seyitomer Mound in the western province of Kutahya found more than 500 pieces of historical artifacts this summer.
  Professor Nejat Bilgen, head of the excavation team, said that this year's works at the ancient site would be completed in November.
  Bilgen said excavations were going on at a layer which is believed to have come into existence after a strong earthquake in Middle Bronze Age.
  The mound was inhabited during the Chalcolithic, Bronze, Phrygian (Iron), Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine, and Seljuk periods, beginning about 5000 years ago.
  More information at http://www.cumhuriyet.com/

* According to the Anatolia News Agency, Izmir, an Aegean province in western Turkey, is getting ready to host country's oldest trade show for the 79th time.
  The Izmir International Fair will be held from August 27 to September 5 at Kulturpark Exhibition Center with the main theme "Energy" this year.
  Mayor of Izmir, Aziz Kocaoglu, said that the fair will also be a venue for an Energy Summit to take place under the auspices of Turkish Energy Ministry.
  "I hope we will be able to make known new energy technologies used in the world at this summit," Kocaoglu said.
  This year's fair will host more than 800 Turkish firms and 250 firms from 55 countries around the world. The number of attending companies increased 49 percent this year, Kocaoglu said. Last year, the Izmir fair attracted 1.5 million visitors.

* A main gate was unearthed during the archaeological excavations in the ancient city of Rhodiapolis near Kumluca town of the popular resort city of Antalya in southern Turkey, reports the Anatolia News Agency.
  Associate Professor Isa Kizgut from the Akdeniz University who heads the excavations, told the A.A on Friday that they found the gate in the western wing of the ancient city. Kizgut added that this year's excavations began in the ancient city on June 22 with the participation of some 60 people.
  Located near the village of Saricasu, Rhodiapolis received its name from the Rhodians who colonized the city. The ancient city was discovered after a forest fire in 2000. Excavations in Rhodiapolis began in 2006.
  The best known figure from the city was Opramoas who lived in the period of Antoninus Pius (138-161 A.C.). He was the richest man in Lycia and the most renowned philanthropist. His best known work was his own monumental tomb.
  Most of the visible ruins in the ancient city dated from the Roman and Byzantine periods. The remains include theater, bathhouse, agora/stoa, temples, church, cisterns, cenotaph, necropolises and houses. More than 60 coins were also unearthed during the excavations

* Hurriyet Daily News A total of 47 feature-length movies by Turkish directors will compete at this year's Golden Orange Film Festival.
  The 47th Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival, which will be held in the Mediterranean city of Antalya between Oct. 9 and Oct. 14, will feature 47 national feature-length films, 33 of which come from first-time directors, a written statement from Antalya Municipality reported Wednesday.
  Aside from well-known Turkish filmmakers such as Semih KaplanoGlu, Dervi$ Zaim, Sinan cetin and Orhan OGuz, new directors like Volga Sorgu, Sava$ Baykal and Belma Ba$ will compete with "masters" of the industry for the big prize at this year's festival, the statement said.
  Directors have also shown great interest in the documentary and short-film categories of the festival, as directors of 107 documentaries and 222 short-films have applied to compete at this year's event, officials said.
  The Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival, held annually since 1963 in Antalya, is the most important national film festival in Turkey.

* Anatolia News Agency The historic journey made by Trojan hero Aeneas from Antandrus (present-day AltInoluk in BalIkesir) to Italy's Latium region is to be retraced by a team of archaeologists. The journey, which seeks to unearth the common ties in Mediterranean culture, will be recorded for a documentary film that will be made to promote AltInoluk and Turkey to the world "A ship, which we'll name ‘Tempest,' will set off from AltInoluk and follow the route that was taken by Aeneas' band in 700 B.C. using sails and oars only," said Excavation Chairman Gurcan Polat in detailing the plans for the journey from the northwestern Turkish province to Italy.
  "Through the Aegean islands and passed the Greek coasts, the journey will continue to Castro, near present-day Ischia di Castro in Italy," he said.
  See more at http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com

* Poetry, photo exhibition in Istanbul gives voice to silent struggle of refugees, reports the Hurriyet Daily News reporter Vercihan Ziflioglu.
   An exhibition titled 'Sea of Fate' at the Sanat LimanI in Karakoy brings together photographer Mehmet Gunyeli and young Kurdish poet Bejan Matur. ‘We highlight the tragedy of refugees in this exhibition,' says Gunyeli, while Matur says: ‘In my poems, I am already telling the story of a nation away from its roots. Immigration is a familiar term to me'
  Gunyeli shot photos of abandoned boats carrying illegal immigrants on the Aegean Sea. In his photos, he focused on abstract expressions rather than concrete ones. He did not give a place to the human factor; he only shot spots and colors on the boats. At the end of a one-year process, Gunyeli delivered his photos to Matur. His goal was to tell the tragedy of refugees with poetry as well.
  See more at Hurriyet

* For the first time in 90 years, the orthodox Christian monastery of Sumela in Eastern Black Sea Region of Turkey had a mass attended by 15,000 people on August 15, reports the Catholic News Agency.
  The Greek orthodox patriarch of Istanbul led the mass. The attendees came from Greece, Russia, Georgia and other countries.
  Liturgical celebrations stopped at the monastery in 1922 after the local Christians were exchanged with the Moslems in Greece.
  The Sumela monastery, with a rich and colorful history dating back to the 4th century, was mostly destroyed at the beginning of the 5th century and was eventually made into a museum and tourist attraction.

* The extensive restoration process of Istanbul's historical Suleymaniye Mosque will be completed by the end of the year.
  The 454-year-old mosque, which its architect Sinan referred to as his "apprenticeship work," has been undergoing the most comprehensive restoration process of its history. This phase of restoration began in 2007, according to officials from Istanbul's Provincial Directorate of Foundations.
  As part of the current restoration process, the mosque's courtyards and minarets have been carefully cleaned up. Imitation items that had been mounted on the building during previous renovations have been exchanged for pieces compatible with the mosque's original structure. Apparently, original iznik ceramics have been discovered.
  Similar to other imperial mosques in Istanbul, the Suleymaniye Mosque was designed as a "kulliye," a complex with adjacent structures to service both religious and cultural needs. The original complex consisted of the mosque itself, a hospital, primary school, a caravanserai, Quran schools, a specialized school for the learning of hadith, a medical college, and a public kitchen that served food to the poor.
  Full story: http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/

* The hIrka, a short mantle or coat, is a simple garment with a long history. It comes in one basic form with some minor differences. Its length, front opening, sleeve length and the cut of the opening for the head. It could be of cotton or linen but in colder climates it can be made of a warmer material such as wool.
  There are two hIrkas in Istanbul of great significance for Muslims and their ancestry can be traced back to the Prophet Mohammed – the hIrka-i saadet and hIrka-i $erife. The hIrka-i $erife can only be viewed by the public during Ramadan in the mosque of the same name. Viewing opened for 10 days this past Friday. The former, the Mantle of Happiness, is among the sacred relics at TopkapI Palace.
  The Mantle of Honor arrived in Istanbul by a much more circuitous route. According to tradition, before the Prophet died, he told his followers that a dervish would come whom he didn't know, whose name was Veysel Karani, and his mantle was to be given to him. Full story by Gul Demir and Niki Gamm for the Hurriyet Daily
  More at http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/