G20 Summit

G20 Summit got underway today in Antalya, Turkey. The summit agenda normally includes current global economic and trade issues, but in the aftermath of terrorist attacks in Paris, the attention today centers on terrorism.

Top photo: G20 leaders pose for family photo; Antalya, 15 November 2015 (Twitter/@G20Turkey2015)
Bottom photo: President Obama and Turkish President Erdogan before their bilateral meeting

Photo above: Obama and Putin hold a meeting on the sidelines of G20 Summit (RT)

G20 Leaders Arrive in Antalya

Tenth G20 Summit Hosted by Turkey

The leaders of G20 countries are arriving at Antalya International Airport on Saturday to attend the tenth G20 summit hosted by Turkey. The summit agenda is expected to be revised in the aftermath of the Paris attacks by the Islamic State, allowing the leaders to concentrate on the fight against terrorism.

UPDATE: Following photos capture the arrival of the G20 leaders at Antalya International Airport; Saturday 14 November 2015 (Twitter/@G20Turkey2015). Photos will be added as the leaders arrive. Top photo: Antalya, Turkey (Wikipedia)

Photos of G20 leaders arriving at Antalya International Airport; from top to bottom:

President Erdogan of Turkey; President Dilma Roussef of Brazil; President Jacob Zuma of South Africa; President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan; Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull of Australia; President Xi Jinping of China; Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong of Singapore; Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada; President Enrique Pena Nieto of Mexico; Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan; President Park Geun-hye of Korea; Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India; Prime Minister Joko Widodo of Indonesia; Secretary General Ban Ki-moon of the United Nations; President Barack Obama; President Vladimi Putin of Russian Federation; Prime Minister Matteo Renzi of Italy; Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany; Prime Minister David Cameron of United Kingdom.

President Francois Hollande of France not attending. And not pictured: King Salman of Saudi Arabia, Prime Minister of Spain, President of Zimbabwe, and leaders of EU Commission, EU Council, IMF and World Bank.

Summer Vacations: Iranians Flock to Antalya

More than a million Iranians visit Turkey each year; most of them flock to Turkish Mediterranean resort town of Antalya. The Financial Times in a report from Tehran discusses Iranian obsession to visit Antalya. Such is the enthusiasm that hardliners in parliament have vowed to restrict the travel agencies' promotion of overseas tourist attractions.

"They [Iran's rulers] think if we do not mention the name of Antalya, people won't go. But the fact is that lots of people want to go [to Antalya] ," says a travel agent in Tehran who promotes Mediterranean packages [Financial Times, 30 July].

The Antalya resorts offer lively nightlife and access to mixed beaches that are denied to Iranians at home. Moreover, Antalya hotels generally offer better levels of service and cheaper prices than the resorts in Iran’s Caspian Sea and Kish Island. A one-week package to Antalya including flights and full-board ranges from $500 to $1,000 a person. A standard two-bed room in a top hotel in one of Caspian resorts, complete with social restrictions, costs about $200 per night. The figure for a similar room on the Gulf island of Kish in the south, is usually more than $150.

"A one-week tour package to Thailand or Malaysia or Turkey is cheaper than the same package to Kish — and the levels of service are much higher," says Mustafa Shafe'ei Shakib, a member of the Iranian Travel Agencies Guild Association.

Banned singers and dancers, most of whom live abroad, also flock to destinations popular with Iranians. Googoosh, a legendary pop singer, and Mohammad Khordadian, a renowned classical dancer, are performing in Antalya this week to sold-out crowds of visiting Iranians.

Local travel agents believe that out of the six million trips taken by Iranians overseas each year, more than one million people go to Turkey for a holiday or for shopping — or both. The figure is not much below that for the combined number of Iranian pilgrims visiting shrines in Saudi Arabia, Syria and Iraq.

File Photo: Antalya, Turkey / AP