Most popular news from Turkey in 2014 - published on HDN

A young girl is pictured after she was wounded during clashes between riot-police and prostestors after the funeral of Berkin Elvan, the 15-year-old boy who died from injuries suffered during last year's anti-government protests, in Istanbul on March 12, 2014. AFP Photo / Bülent Kılıç

1) Women should not laugh out loud in public


Thousands in Germany said “danke” to a 22-year-old of Turkish descent who was brutally attacked for trying to rescue two German women from being harassed. After Tuğçe Albayrak’s life support was turned off on her birthday, German President Joachim Gauck called her family.  (Click here to read more about this story)


3) As it happened on Gezi anniversary   


Police used tear gas and water cannons on May 31 against demonstrators marking the anniversary of last year’s Gezi Park protests. Scores of people were detained while many others were injured in Istanbul and Ankara. (Click here to read more about this story)


4) Erdoğan declares local poll victory


Then-Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan declared the victory of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) in the March 30 local elections. (Click here to read more about this story)


5) Opposition ballots found in trash bags in southern Turkey


Used ballots, marked for the opposition parties, were found in the garbage of six schools used as polling stations in the southern province of Osmaniye a day after the March 30 local elections. (Click here to read more about this story)


6) Soma mine inspected, approved by executive’s brother-in-law


The Soma coal mine, where 301 workers were killed in a May 13 disaster, received a “perfect” score in March by an official inspector, who is the brother-in-law of a senior executive of the company, daily Hürriyet revealed May 26. (Click here to read more about this story)


7) Erdoğan refers to 19th-century Britain to justify a mine disaster


Erdoğan cited centuries-old examples to defend his government over its mining record, pointing to a mine accident in Britain in 1838 during a press conference after the Soma disaster on May 14. (Click here to read more about this story) (Picture Source: Men leaving a UK colliery at the close of a shift, a painting by Gerald Palmer for More Pictures of British History by E.L.Hoskyn, A & C Black, London, 1914, p.62)


8) Turkey mourns for the kitten diagnosed with Down’s syndrome


Otto, a 2.5 month-old kitten that attracted public interest in Turkey after a veterinarian diagnosed him with Down’s syndrome, died due to heart failure on July 13. (Click here to read more about this story)


9) Clashes in Istanbul after funeral of young Gezi victim

15-year-old Berkin Elvan’s funeral procession saw thousands of people gather in Istanbul’s Okmeydanı neighborhood. Soon after the funeral finished, clashes between police and protesters started in the Osmanbey neighborhood near Taksim. (Click here to read more about this story)


10) Scottish cyclist interrupts world tour to save stray dog


Sprint cyclist Ishbel Taromsari, 34, won many hearts in November by interrupting her world tour to save a stray dog. (Click here to read more about this story)