Entrepreneurship in Turkey is being celebrated on the global stage once again, as the World Economic Forum’s Schwab Foundation has just awarded Bedriye Hulya an award for Social Entrepreneur of the Year. Hulya, who the founder of Turkey’s first chain of women-only gyms, as was the only woman selected from the Middle East and North Africa and Turkey in 2013. Hulya began her b-fit gym franchise in February 2006 in a middle-class neighborhood of Izmir, one of Turkey’s major cities. Since then, b-fit has enabled hundreds of women to become entrepreneurs in their own right. As of today, there are 160,000 gym members at 220 gyms around the country, staffed by over 500 women employees and 250 women franchisee in 47 cities in Turkey and Cyprus.

By EILEEN AJ CONNELLY Associated Press - As the family and friends of Sarai Sierra were saying farewell on Friday to the 33-year-old New York City woman killed while on a solo vacation in Turkey, investigators there detained the siblings of a man wanted for questioning over her death. Turkey's state-run news agency said police briefly took the two brothers and a sister of the possible suspect into custody in the northern city of Karabuk. They were released after being questioned about their brother's whereabouts. The Anadolu agency said their DNA samples were taken.

Turkish woman entrepreneur Ayşe Koçak was chosen as one of the 100 strongest women in Mexico by CNN Expansion magazine. Koçak established a medical company in Mexico three years ago. The entrepreneur shared her story with Anatolia News Agency. “When I arrived in Mexico, I did not know Spanish and knew no one,” seh said adding that, fortunately, things went well and our company grew. “We have reached a sales volume of $100 million in three years,” Koçak said.