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Unique ceramic figures were discovered in the excavations carried out this year in the ancient city of Klazomenai in the Urla district of Izmir. Among the artifacts were the 2,500-year-old a rare perirrhanterion (wash-basin) and the wash-basin foot and base decorated with chariot races.Experts said An embossed and painted example adorned with figures in this way has never been found before.The perirrhanterion is a special type of louterion (water-basin) used for ritual washing in sanctuaries. Although many examples of stone (marble) and ceramics were found in previous excavations, no examples of fantastic mythological creatures and chariot races belonging to the...

Ongoing excavations have revealed a historical latrina – a toilet or an even simpler facility used as a toilet within a sanitation system – at a historical theater in the ancient city of Smyrna, located within the borders of the western city of Izmir. The latrina is thought to have been used by the artists in the theater. The theater and the commode date back to around the second century B.C. and were used until the fifth century A.D., said Akın Ersoy, an archaeologist at Izmir's Katip Çelebi University and head of the excavation team.Touting "unexpected finds" during the excavations,...

A powerful earthquake has struck off Turkey's Aegean coast, north of the Greek island of Samos, officials said. The 7.0 magnitude tremor, about 17km (11 miles) off the coast of western Izmir province, was felt as far away as Athens and Istanbul, the US Geological Survey (USGS) said. There was no word on casualties but images from the Turkish city of Izmir showed buildings that had collapsed. An earthquake that struck Izmir in 1999 killed about 17,000 people. Reports said Friday's quake was also felt on the Greek island of Crete. Video on social media showed people searching through the...

A 7.0-magnitude earthquake hit the Aegean Sea off Greece and Turkey on Friday, according to the United States Geological Survey. At least 4 people were killed in the quake, according to Turkey’s health minister. The city of Izmir in Turkey has been particularly badly hit with reports of at least 20 building destroyed, cars being crushed and people in the streets following the quake. The earthquake has also caused damage on the Greek island of Samos in the Aegean sea.

Tension is running high between Greece and Turkey. The cause? Turkish Chief of the General Staff Gen. Hulusi Akar paid a visit to Imia, a pair of two small, uninhabited Greek islets in the Aegean Sea, on January 29. He was accompanied by the commanders of the Turkish land, naval and air forces.Imia – which Turkey calls “Kardak” – was a subject of yet another crisis in 1996 that brought Greece and Turkey to the brink of war. Although armed conflict was ultimately averted, Turkey still claims that the islands are Turkish, even though the islands in the Aegean are...

Archaeologists have discovered ashes from one of the biggest ever volcanic eruptions in recorded history. Excavations in Turkey’s ancient city of Smyrna, now located in Izmir, have revealed details from a Minoan eruption that took place some 3,600 years ago. Smyrna was established about 5,000 years ago by the Greek tribe of Aeolians and later inhabited by Ionians. It was mostly abandoned after it was captured by the Anatolian kingdom of Lydia in the 6th century B.C. Archaeologists say the ashes will tell them a lot about the history. “Now that we have identified those ashes with a more extensive...

For the first time since the Asia Minor Catastrophe of 1922, a Greek Orthodox Epiphany celebration is set to take place in Izmir on January 6, 2016. The Greek Orthodox community has received permission from the Turkish authorities to perform the Diving for the Holy Cross ceremony on the local pier. "For the first year we will be performing the Blessing of the Waters at the port of Izmir. Officially, this is the first year. We had also done it around 10 years ago, but not officially. This time we have received a license from the Turkish government, the Ministry...

The Agios Konstantinos Greek Church in the western province of İzmir has reopened following renovations and held a mass for first time in 93 years, with the participation of the Fener Greek Patriarchate. The historic church, dating back to the 19th century, located on Mermerli Street in the Menemen district in İzmir, was renovated by the Menemen municipality. Fener Greek Patriarchate Bartholomew and Menemen Mayor Tahir Şahin reopened the church with a ceremony where they threw white doves and planted an olive tree in the garden as symbols of peace. ‘Right to worship indispensable for religion’ Bartholomew, who performed the...

"A greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends".

SNIPPET: "A Sun Express Boeing 737-800, registration TC-SUO performing flight XQ-973 from Stuttgart (Germany) to Izmir (Turkey) with 62 passengers and 6 crew, was enroute overhead Skopje (Macedonia), when a crew member found a note in one of the lavatories saying "Today we will die, boom"." SNIPPET: "Greek police detained a man carrying a marker pen of the same color as the note written on the lavatory's mirror, but later permitted him to continue the journey. After the airplane arrived in Izmir, Turkish police detained the man again and interviewed him. The man was released without charges after the interview."

New excavations have revealed that Izmir, once believe to be 5,000 years old, may be as old as 8,500 years. Associate professor Zafer Derin of the Ege University archeology department, the head of the excavation team, said in a written statement his team had removed 150 artifacts discovered at the Yeflilova Tumulus excavation site, reported the Anatolia news agency. Saying the findings discovered in the excavation played an important role in identifying those who lived in the area 8,500 years ago, Derin said: "Findings obtained from the excavation determined that those who lived in this area 8,500 years ago had...

I keep getting slandered so I thought I'd post this. Who Burned Izmir? In 1920 Izmir was given up to the Greeks by the Ottomans as part of a Peace agreement proposed by Churchill. Although intended as an allied occupation under the armistice terms, it was in fact a Greek occupation which quickly became an excuse to extend the boundaries of Greece across the Aegean in accordance with the Greek dream of rejuvenating the Byzantine Empire. In a three week battle Ataturk threw the Greeks back into the sea, captured the Greek commanding general and re-entered Izmir triumphant. The retreating...

Boats joined the rally alongside Izmir's seafront The mass protests At least one million Turks have rallied in the city of Izmir to protest against any government plans to undermine Turkish secularism.The major demonstration was the fourth since the ruling AK Party nominated Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul as its candidate for the country's presidency. Many Turks suspect Mr Gul of having an Islamic agenda, something he denied before withdrawing his candidacy. Parliamentary elections scheduled for November are now to be held in July. The AK Party - which has roots its in political Islam - argues that a general...

IZMIR, Turkey – Choking the highways and crammed onto ferries, hundreds of thousands of Turks streamed into this port city on Sunday in an enormous show of opposition to the pro-Islamic ruling party, increasing pressure on the government ahead of early elections. Some 1.5 million protesters carried anti-government banners, red-and-white Turkish flags and pictures of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, who founded the secular republic in 1923. Turkish flags hung from balconies and windows, as well as buses and fishing boats and yachts bobbing in Izmir's bay. “I am here to defend my country,” said Yuksel Uysal, a teacher. “I am here...

Many people have been injured in an explosion in Izmir, Turkey's third largest city, police said. The blast happened at a cafe in the affluent Alsancak district of the Aegean city. "Two grenades were thrown into the cafe and exploded but the attack has no political links," Izmir police chief Huseyin Capkin told reporters. Fifteen injured people were taken to three hospitals in the area, Reuters news agency reported. A spate of deadly bomb attacks claimed by Kurdish separatists has hit Turkey this year. This latest attack comes a day after the separatist Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which in the...

Source: AFP Blasts in three Turkish cities From correspondents in Istanbul December 13, 2003 BOMB blasts shook Turkey's three leading cities, Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir, today but without causing casualties or major damage, Anatolia news agency reported. One bomb went off beside the main courthouse in the capital Ankara, followed by a blast in a street beside a police station in Izmir which broke nearby house and car windows, the report said. Police were hunting two people seen hurrying from the scene. A third explosion occurred outside a courthouse in Izmir as a police bomb disposal squad was about to...

Nov. 20, 2003 UEFA postpones Maccabi Haifa's Turkey match By OFER RONEN-ABELS European football governing body UEFA decided to postpone Maccabi Haifa's return leg with Valencia which was set to take place in Izmir on Thursday by one week. UEFA's decision was reached after lengthy discussions at the orgenizations' headquarters in Nyon following the terrorist attacks in Istanbul on Thursday. Haifa's designated home venue for the match is Izmir because UEFA doesn't allow European matches to take place here in Israel. But, the staging of matches in Turkey had come into some question after Saturday's two bombings on Istanbul synagogues....