Five records from Turkey in 2014

51,793 people have breakfast together


Breaking the Guinness World Record for the “World’s most crowded breakfast table,” 51,793 people enjoyed a morning meal in the eastern Turkish province of Van on June 1. (Click here to read the rest of this story)


6,000 people gather at Atatürk’s tomb


Some 6,000 people formed a giant portrait of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of the Turkish Republic, with their bodies on Aug. 26, the anniversary of the 1922 Battle of Dumlupınar, one of the final battles in Turkey’s War of Independence. The event is expected to be registered as a record by Guinness, whose official crew was present to adjudicate the attempt. (Click here to read the rest of this story)


1,294 planes a day at Istanbul airport



Istanbul’s Atatürk Airport broke its own air traffic record on June 13, when a total of 1,294 planes took off and landed at the transportation hub, Orhan Birdal, General Director of State Airports (DHMİ), announced on his Twitter account. (Click here to read the rest of this story)


160 children sing for their mothers


160 children simultaneously sang a song for their mothers and gave them flowers in Istanbul’s Kağıthane neighborhood on May 11, in an event registered by Guinness’ Turkey representative Orhan Kural as a record, according to Anadolu Agency.


Smugglers break a record, too


Some 534,000 boxes of smuggled cigarettes were seized in a police operation in the eastern Turkish province of Iğdır on Sept. 14. Anadolu Agency reported that this number was an all-time record for Turkey.