Most read articles of 2021
1- 'Enjoy, I'm vaccinated': Ministry video for tourists causes outrage
The Ministry of Culture and Tourism on May 13 released a video on its social media accounts, promoting the measures to protect foreign tourists from Covid-19.
In the video, tourism workers were seen wearing masks with a sign "Enjoy, I'm vaccinated" in what the ministry called "double protection for tourists."
The video came a week after Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, at a joint press conference in Berlin with his counterpart from Germany, said "we will vaccinate anyone that tourists can see."
At the time, Turkey's vaccination campaign was progressing slowly due to a vaccine shortage and the government prioritizing the safety of foreign tourists over its citizens caused a heavy backlash on social media.
Shortly after, the ministry had to delete the video and Minister Çavuşoğlu had to clarify his remarks.
This article was the most read of the year by a fair margin.
2- Sedat Peker claims to reveal new cocaine route between Colombia-Venezuela-Turkey
Sedat Peker, formerly a pro-government mob boss, shook the country in May when he started releasing videos on YouTube, where he made serious accusations against former and incumbent government officials, including international drug smuggling, political assassinations, corruption, sexual assault and murder.
Each of his videos was viewed by millions of people with people eagerly waiting for the next episode of "Sedatflix."
One of the most striking allegations of Peker was about an alleged cocaine smuggling route between Colombia, Venezuela, and Turkey. He alleged that the son of former PM Binali Yıldırım was organizing the smuggling operations.
In the last two years, tons of cocaine have been seized in cargo ships coming from Colombia and Panama. No effective investigations have been carried out into the incidents.
Other articles about Sedat Peker's revelations among the 100 most read articles on bianet English:
New revelations by Sedat Peker as he postpones video about Erdoğan due to Biden meeting
Sedat Peker releases recordings of video calls with journalist close to interior minister
After 24-hour silence, Sedat Peker reveals he was with 'UAE authorities'
3- 'President throws packs of tea at people while the country is ravaged by wildfires and floods'
In July and early August, Turkey suffered massive wildfires and deadly floods.
During his visits to regions affected by the disasters, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan gave speeches to crowds about what the government would do to recover the damage.
He drew ire from the public and the opposition after he threw packs of black tea, the most consumed drink in Turkey, to the people listening to him as a "gesture of courtesy."
One of the places where he threw tea at the people was Rize, his hometown, and the province that meets most of the country's tea production.
Other articles about the wildfires and floods among the 100 most read articles:
A week of crises in Turkey: Raging wildfires, a massacre and 'execution lists'
Sixty-three wildfires in two days: Government slammed over lack of firefighting aircraft
Erdoğan dismisses criticism over firefighting planes as wildfires blaze Turkey
Wildfires in Turkey: Latest updates
4- Turkey withdraws from İstanbul Convention
President Erdoğan on March 20 pulled Turkey out of the İstanbul Convention, a Council of Europe treaty for combating violence against women. Since then, women from all across the country have held countless demonstrations, demanding the reinstament of the convention.
5- Party worker killed in armed assault on HDP İzmir office
On June 17, an armed assailant stormed the provincial office of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) in İzmir, western Turkey, and killed Deniz Poyraz, a party worker.
Poyraz, 21, was the only person in the office at the time of the attack that took place at around 10.30 a.m. Had the assailant came to the office a couple of hours later, he would have committed a big massacre as there was a scheduled event at the party office, the HDP later announced.
This was the first of the three armed attacks on the HDP this year, with the two others resulting in no casualties.
The first hearing of the case concerning the İzmir attack was held this week. The assailant's provocative behavior led to a brawl in the courtroom.
6- Kurdish family in Konya massacred at home
A land dispute between two families in the central province of Konya resulted in a racist massacre, where seven people from a Kurdish family were killed by an armed assailant.
The first hearing of the trial of the assailant was held on December 14. Citing the latest evidence, the attorney of the slain family told bianet that the massacre might have been organized by "paramilitary forces."
7- Where is the 128 billion dollars?
Following a currency crisis in mid-2018, the government resorted to foreign exchange swaps and selling dollars in the Central Bank's reserves to prevent further depreciation of the Turkish lira.
Until the resignation of Berat Albayrak, President Erdoğan's son-in-law, as the finance minister in November 2020, the bank had sold about 128 billion dollars and run out of foreign exchange reserves, according to estimates by economists.
The opposition turned this into a campaign with the slogan "Where is the 128 billion dollars?"
After the main opposition CHP in April began hanging banners that read "Where is 128 billion dollars?" on its buildings across the country, a "banner war" started between the party and police with the latter removing banners every night, using cranes sometimes.
8- 19th İstanbul Pride March: Police attack, detain LGBTI+s in Taksim
As the government banned the pride march for the seventh year in a row, dozens of LGBTI+s were beaten and detained by the police.
9- Hundreds of baby flamingos die in drying Lake
Turkey has faced a severe drought over the past few years, with lakes and rivers drying up in the Konya Closed Basin in the Central Anatolia Region.
In the drying parts of Lake Tuz, one of the largest hypersaline lakes in the world, hundreds of dead baby flamingos were pictured this summer.
Farmers' embankment of the water channels flowing to Lake Tuz was among the main reasons for the shrinkage of the lake, which is home to several species of migratory birds.
The protests that started at the beginning of 2021, when President Erdoğan appointed a rector from outside the academic community of Boğaziçi University, continued throughout the year.
Despite the detention of hundreds of students, two of whom were arrested and still behind bars, students and academics of Boğaziçi continue to demand a democratically elected rector.
Other most read articles about the Boğaziçi protests:
Boğaziçi students, alumni and academics protest on South Campus
Messages of solidarity from Oxford to Boğaziçi University
11- Sex work in Turkey: 'We are surprised by how we survive'
This article comprising interviews with sex workers was published on December 17, 2020, to mark the Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers. It became one of the most read articles in the following year.
12- Erdoğan has a new 'success story' as small investors 'conned'
Another currency crisis came with high inflation later in the year. Ordinary people paid the price for a week of massive fluctuations in the Turkish lira. (VK)