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In 2023, Dubai reached a new record, becoming the world leader in luxury real estate sales and defining London, New York and Paris. In the field of luxury housing in Dubai, a total of 176 deals worth $850 million were concluded, including one of the largest deals worth $111.6 million for a penthouse in the Bulgari Lighthouse complex on Jumeirah Island. This significant growth highlights the growing interest in Dubai as a premium destination for real estate investments, attracting millionaires due to its high standard of living, return on investment and security. The data shows that Dubai has not only consolidated its position as a global center of luxury and wealth, but also continues to attract investors from all over the world interested in the unique lifestyle and investment opportunities that the city offers.

The UAE has adopted an amendment to the law, which greatly simplifies the process of abortions in cases where the mother's health is at risk. Now, in emergency situations, when urgent medical intervention is needed, the husband's consent is not required. The innovation is an important step in protecting women's health and rights. From now on, a pregnant woman can independently decide whether to have an abortion in case of a threat to her life or if pregnancy poses a serious risk. The senior lawyer, Hadiel Hussein, stressed that these changes give priority to a woman's consent. Doctors welcome this step, considering it a relief for women faced with difficult choices. "The amendment also gives the Cabinet of Ministers the authority to issue decrees defining other cases when abortion is allowed," said lawyer Nadine Mukhtar. According to Nadine's lawyer, these changes demonstrate the UAE's commitment to modern standards and openness.

1st place - Ibrahim Erdemoğlu - $5.3 billion - founder of Merinos Halı, owner of 51% of shares of SASA Polyester company.2nd place - Murat Ulker (Murat Ülker) - $5 billion.- Chairman of the Management Board of Yıldız Holding, the largest food company in central and eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa.3rd place - Ali Erdemoglu - $4.7 billion - Managing Director of SASA Polyester, together with his brother Ibrahim Erdemoglu owns more than 75% of the company.

In January, a total of 80,308 properties were sold in Turkey, an increase of 17.8% compared to January 2023. The top three looks like this:Istanbul - 13,423 objects (16.7%)Ankara - 6,709 objects (8.4%)Antalya - 5,250 objects (6.5%) With the help of mortgages, 5,915 properties were sold, which is 7.4% of the total number of sales. Home sales to foreigners in January decreased by 50.5% to 2,061 properties, and the share of sales to foreigners in total sales amounted to 2.6%. Antalya took the first place in housing sales to foreigners - 710 objects. Citizens of the Russian Federation bought the most real estate in January - 555 units.

Shenol Vaivalako, a jeweler from Antalya, has created four rosaries in 2.5 years, each of which is estimated at more than 200,000 dollars! In their production, he used gold, silver, emeralds, rubies, sapphires, Ottoman amber and diamonds. It is noteworthy that Shenol works in a small workshop with an area of only 9 m2. Vaivalako said that he wants to exhibit his rosary beads in the museum, and present one of them to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Emphasizing that each of the rosaries he created has its own story, Vaivalako says: "I depicted Hector and Achilles during the Trojan War, the helmet of the prophet Solomon, the owl he was talking to, and his army. This is a very difficult art! I think the cost of four rosaries is approaching a million dollars!"

The government is working on changes to the Labor Code, planning to reduce the number of hours of the working week from 45 to 40 hours. The amendment will also specify: the amount of wages, annual and weekly vacations, work schedules, etc. The difference in overtime pay coefficients will also be eliminated. At the same time, the opposition submitted to the Turkish Grand National Assembly a bill to reduce the weekly working day to 37.5 hours.

A new competitor of Turkcell, Vodafone and Turk Telekom, Netgsm has started work as the fourth telecom operator in Turkey. Subscribers of this network will have the number block "0510 22X XXXX". Adem Okal, chairman of the Board of Directors of Netgsm, said: "Today we serve more than 198,000 subscribers. By the end of 2024, we plan to attract 3 million subscribers by transferring numbers." The company has every chance to reach the desired number of subscribers, as the tariffs it offers are very attractive: 29 liras per month - 1GB of Internet, 100 minutes + 50 sms39 liras per month - 1GB of Internet, 250 minutes + 100 sms49 liras per month - 1GB of Internet, 500 minutes + 100 sms

By decree of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the amount of holiday payments to pensioners has been doubled and now amounts to 3,000 liras (about $ 100). Thus, two pensioners will receive payments totaling 6,000 liras: the first will be paid by April 9 and the second by June 15 of this year.

Abdul Wahab Olgun, president of the Izmir Torbala Chamber of Commerce, said that the monthly salary of workers has reached 70 thousand lira ($2,280), but even this fact does not solve the problem of a shortage of workers on construction sites. "The daily salary of plasterers and painters reaches 2 thousand lira and, together with overtime hours, reaches 70 thousand per month. Thus, the salaries of these workers are higher than the salaries of white-collar workers. At the same time, even with such good pay, there is a shortage of craftsmen and support staff, especially in areas requiring special knowledge. The shortage of staff, in turn, makes it difficult to complete projects on time and control costs, which negatively affects the construction business as a whole," Torbaly said.

According to a study conducted on the Istanbul real estate rental market, the most expensive area of Istanbul turned out to be Saryer, where the rent was 40 thousand liras per month ($1300), and the cheapest - Arnavutkey, Esenyurt and Silivri - 12 thousand liras per month ($390). The calculation was based on a 2+1 apartment with an area of 100 m2. Saryer - 40,000 lirasBesiktas - 34,000 lirasBeyoglu - 31.000 lirasShishli - 26,000 lireAdalar (islands) - 25,000 liras

A record number of Turkish citizens traveled outside Turkey in 2023. The trend towards an increase has been observed for several years. In 2021, this number was 2,759,186 people, in 2022 - 7,345. 514 people, and in 2023 - a record 11,167,433 people! Thus, practically every eighth Turkish citizen left the country last year for one reason or another. Which countries did Turkish citizens prefer to visit? Iraq - 1,908,838 tripsBulgaria - 1.449.968 tripsGeorgia - 916.422 tripsGreece - 890.442 tripsAzerbaijan - 339.611 trips

The Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) has announced the results of a life satisfaction survey. According to TurkStat, the number of people who define themselves as "happy" increased by 3% compared to last year and amounted to 52.7%. The proportion of people who said they were unhappy decreased by 2.2 points from 15.9% in 2022 to 13.7% in 2023. 33.6% of citizens could not classify themselves as either happy or unhappy. At the same time, women feel happier than men (55.1% versus 50.3%, respectively).It is also noted that people who are married (56.4%) are happier than single people (45.8%). Among people who are married, women are also more satisfied with their lives (59.5% of married women versus 53.2% of married men) Citizens call family, love and health the most important in life, and the most important life problems are the cost of living - 33.8%, education - 16.5% and poverty - 13.4%.