Last night's long-awaited performance, 19 years to be exact, started off with impressive visual effects. The concert, which was scheduled to begin at 21:30, started at 22:15. The TT Arena was filled with Madonna's fans as well as European Union Minister and Chief Negotiator Egemen Bağış and his wife and children. Bağış also posed for photographs with other concert-goers.
Madonna began her 2012 World Tour from Tel Aviv on May 29th. As part of this tour, Madonna will also be performing in South America and Australia for a first in 20 years. The European leg of the tour, which kicked off last night with the impressive Istanbul show, includes 26 different European stops including London, Paris and Berlin.
FANS WAIT FOR HOURS FOR STADIUM SHOW
Fans began forming long lines yesterday starting at noon at the Türk Telekom Arena in anticipation for the Queen of Pop's performance. Tickets off course had sold out days before…
Madonna arrived to Turkey on Tuesday accompanied by her children to perform in Istanbul for the first time in 19 years. Madonna's private plane touched down in Istanbul's Atatürk Airport at 20:20 Tuesday evening, where she was greeted with a red carpet.
While in Istanbul, Madonna visited both Hagia Sophia and Sultanahmet Mosque.
World-renowned pop star Rihanna performed a dazzling concert for an audience of 35,000 in Istanbul’s İnönü Stadium on Thursday night as part of her Diamonds World Tour.
Second-place winner of the Eurovision Song Contest Azerbaijani singer Farid Mammadov paid a visit to Istanbul after his win and prominent display of the Turkish flag during the live broadcast.
In his new book “Inferno”, American writer Dan Brown describes Istanbul as “a world divided, a city of opposing forces.”
Cannes’ popular venue Plage des Palmes hosted an international Istanbul meeting yesterday evening on the sidelines of the famous film festival. 
AK Party Malatya Deputy Ömer Faruk Öz has sent apricots to American film star Angelina Jolie, who recently had a preventative double mastectomy because she carries the BRCA1 gene, which significantly increases the risk she may get breast cancer.
“Inferno”, the new book by Dan Brown, the author of the worldwide best-seller “The Da Vinci Code”, is now on the shelves in a simultaneous release in 12 different countries, including Turkey. The final section of the book takes place in Istanbul and is expected to result in a surge of tourists for Istanbul’s historic Hagia Sophia.
The International Istanbul Puppetry Festival, which will be hosting performances from 15 different nations, kicks off today with a showing of the German-French-Swiss production of “Hotel de Rive”.
When 30,000 Justin Bieber fans all rushed to arrive to the Ayazağa Stadium for the popular young star’s performance Thursday night, traffic was jammed for hours. However, the famous singer did not disappoint his Turkish ‘Beliebers’.
Justin Bieber stopped his performance twice mid-concert last night in Istanbul to honor the ‘Azan’, the Islamic call to prayer. 
A new album has been released of songs composed from eulogies and verses made by Ottoman sultans entitled 'Şarkıların Sultanı' (The Sultan of Songs). 
Conductor Özfırat of the Antakya Civilizations Choir, which consists of 150 members of a diverse variety of religious and sectarian backgrounds and performs in Turkish, Arabic, Armenian and Kurdish, says, “I want to spread the message of peace with my music.”
