Foreigners acquire more property in Turkey
Foreigners show interest in properties in Turkey in increasing numbers one year after the reciprocity law took effect. According to Turkish Ministry of Environment and Urbanization, 14,599 foreigners bought 13,495 properties within one year.

Moody's upgrades Turkey's rating to investment grade
Credit rating agency Moody's has upgraded Turkey's rating by one notch to Baa3 from Ba1, and has assigned a stable outlook. Moody's showed the reason of upgrading Turkey's rating as "recent and expected future improvements in key economic and public finance metrics."

First Airbus A320 landed to Gazipasa Airport
Operated by TAV Airports, Antalya Gazipasa Airport welcomed 182 passengers of Small Planet, a Lithuanian airline company operating charter flights and arriving from Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania, on May 17th. Airbus A320 type aircraft of Small Planet Airlines was welcomed by water cannon salute at the apron. TAV Gazipasa General Manager Cengiz Asikli, Adriatic Air Service officials and TAV Gazipasa Airport employees attended the welcome ceremony.

Turkey to start clean slate with IMF
Turkey's 52-year-old affair with the International Monetary Fund will take a turn as the country prepares to cut its debt to the IMF to zero later this month. The Turkish Treasury will repay on May 14 a last slice of $422.1 million and loan the fund $5 billion, making Turkey the 23rd biggest lender in the international institution.

3rd Istanbul airport to be 'world leader' in passenger capacity
The third airport to be built in Istanbul is expected to be the world's largest with a capacity of 150 million passengers when completed. Held at the Esenboga Airport of Turkish capital of Ankara, the tender bid for the airport was made with the "build-operate-transfer" model.

Turkey, Moldova switch to visa-free regime
From May 2013 visa-free regime will be set between Turkey and Moldova. The resolution to abandon the visa regime with Moldova was ratified yesterday by the Turkish government. The relevant decision was made by the two countries in November 2012.

Turkish Airlines sign sponsorship with Borussia Dortmund
Turkey's national air carrier Turkish Airlines (THY) on Thursday signed a sponsorship agreement with Germany's Bundesliga football club Borussia Dortmund. THY Director General Temel Kotil and the CEO of Borussia Dortmund Hans-Joachim Watzke signed the agreement and later appeared at a press conference at the Signal Iduna Park Stadium.

Nearly 3 million tourists visit Istanbul in four months
Number of foreign tourists visiting Istanbul, Turkey's main commercial and cultural hub, reached 2.92 million in the first four months of 2013, data showed. The figure marked a 21 percent rise over the same period from 2.42 million a year earlier.

Turkey to close its debt to IMF on May 14
Turkey's final capital refunding to the IMF was set as May 14. Turkey's Treasury Undersecretariat will close the debt by refunding 422.1 million USD of capital as part of the 19th stand-by. Turkey will be closing a chapter with the IMF, to whom it was an indebted for 52 years.

Turkey creates electronic system for F-16 fighters
The Turkish Ministry of Defence along with the country's Air Force intends to establish a military electronic system for F-16 fighters. Today this type of system is being created in only five countries in the world. The electronic combat system, which is the foundation of military electronic systems for fighters, will protect the aircraft during a flight from threats detected by radar and an air defence system.

Turkey becomes partner of Shanghai group
Turkey and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization signed a memorandum of understanding for cooperation as dialogue partners. NATO member Turkey signed up on Friday to became a "dialogue partner" of a security bloc dominated by China and Russia, and declared that its destiny is in Asia.

Turkey's first national "mini satellite" launched to space
Turkey's first national mini communications test satellite "TURKSAT-3USAT" has been launched to space from China on Friday. In a statement posted on their web site, Turksat said that the test satellite was launched to space from China at 07.13 a.m. (Turkish local time).

Sayar from Torku ranked first in cycling tour of Turkey
Mustafa Sayar from Torku Sekerspor ranked the first in general classification in the tour which started on April 21 from Alanya leg and ended with Istanbul-Istanbul leg. Total length of the tour was 1,204 km. German Marcel Kittel from Argos team ranked the first in Istanbul-Istanbul leg.

Kittel wins first stage of Presidential Cycling Tour of Turkey
German Marcel Kittel representing the Team Argos-Shimano won the first stage of the Presidential Cycling Tour of Turkey (TUR) that started in Antalya's Alanya on Sunday. Kittel was the winner of 143-km lap with 03:08:27.

Turkish real estate shifts toward Anatolia
The top three cities of Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir have seen their share of the value of annual national realty sales steeply decline from 51 percent in 2010 to 41 percent in 2012