How often does this happen: Within one week, the queen of pianists Martha Argerich, divo deluxe Roberto Alagna, violin virtuoso Gidon Kremer, trumpet phenom Gabor Boldoczki (accompanied by Kremer's award-winning ensemble Kremerata Baltica) and superstar cellist Alisa Weilerstein appeared on İstanbul stages between Nov. 26-Dec. 2. Since this kind of thing is happening more and more, it proves that this city is really on the international musical map.

Having already announced the names of the 47 candidates from his party, Turkey's prime minister has announced 21 more candidates running for mayoral posts, including the current İstanbul mayor's candidacy, speaking at the Haliç Congress Center on Thursday.

The advent of cold weather has prompted the İstanbul Governor's Office to place Syrian refugees in the city, who have been living in tents, in a Turkish Red Crescent camp in the city's Pendik district.

Incumbent İstanbul mayor Kadir Topbaş will seek re-election in next year’s municipal elections slated for March on behalf of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party). 

Las Vegas, where the only design rule seems to be that everything must mirror something else, is getting a new mall modeled on İstanbul's Grand Bazaar.

İstanbul Governor Hüseyin Avni Mutlu has called on residents of İstanbul to inform the governor's office about homeless Syrian families living in the city, adding that homeless Syrians will be accommodated in a refugee camp set up in İstanbul's Pendik district.

A group of people staged a protest outside an İstanbul court on Tuesday demanding justice for the 2007 killing of Hrant Dink, the late editor-in-chief of the Turkish-Armenian weekly Agos.

Justin Timberlake is headed to İstanbul next spring for a stadium gig.

Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu has declared Şişli Mayor Mustafa Sarıgül, who rejoined the CHP on Nov. 3 following an eight-year expulsion from the party, as the CHP's İstanbul mayoral candidate, during a Sunday reception in Washington, D.C., Turkish media outlets reported on Monday.

The 19th-century English photographer James Robertson, who served as chief engraver at the Ottoman Imperial Mint for nearly 40 years, is being commemorated on the 200th anniversary of his birth in an exhibition in İstanbul's Beyoğlu district.

A Fenerbahçe-Beşiktaş clash is never as dangerous as the “mother of all battles” between Fenerbahçe and Galatasaray; nonetheless, it is always a tight and tense affair.

Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) co-chair Ertuğrul Kürkçü said on Wednesday that his party will announce Sırrı Süreyya Önder as a candidate for mayor of İstanbul on Dec. 15.

As part of a project to reduce the city's population, the İstanbul Municipality has been paying the moving expenses of families that had moved to İstanbul from Anatolia but want to return to their hometowns.

The 13th-century Sufi mystic Mevlana Muhammad Jelaluddin Rumi will be remembered next week in İstanbul in a ceremony ahead of the 740th anniversary of his death, marking the second time Turkey's cultural capital is hosting a Şeb-i Arus, or Night of Union, event.

Every child whose mother tongue is English knows the rhyme “Rain rain go away, come again another day.” Though a fun thing to say when you look out the window and see rain, the origin has rich historical significance.

A man died on Thursday after allegedly jumping from the nearly 67-meter Galata Tower -- a major tourist attraction in İstanbul.

It is fall again. Time to convene in İstanbul. In cooperation with Stiftung Mercator, the Center for Strategic Communication (STRATIM) is organizing the 4th İstanbul Forum. By the time this column will make it into print, hundreds of participants from the US, Europe, the Middle East and Turkey will be gathering in this majestic city to discuss the primary foreign policy issues of the region. When we began toying with the idea of initiating a major foreign policy forum in İstanbul we did not intend to focus solely on the Middle East. The idea was to discuss and debate issues and regions that were current and relevant. As we are preparing for the 4th İstanbul Forum I have to admit that we have been dealing primarily with Middle Eastern issues. In one sense this is normal as there are a large number of pressing issues in the Middle East that have a direct impact on Turkey. On the other hand, it is true the Turkish government has a distinct preference to become a central political actor in the region and has been spending considerable political capital there.

Ukraine's consul general in İstanbul has been summoned back to Kiev after he publicly condemned the police response to protesters in his country.

The second day of a global trade and investment summit in İstanbul saw increased interest from African companies in Turkish markets, with some major deals in the works.