I just joined--I hope this is the right place for this query:

In a simple Turkish  story I am reading, this sentence appears (I understand the meaning):

"[Onun] hayatı basit ve olaysız geçmektedir."  My question is, what form of the verb geçmek is this, and why isn´t it "geçiyor"?  

geçmekte and geçiyor has almost the same meaning. They are both mean "is passing". It has the continous present tense meaning.

Since there is a -dir suffix there, -mekte-dir form sounds better than -yor-dur form.

The approximate translation for -mekte can be "is in the state of V+ing".

geçmekte = is in the state of passing (a continuing action in the present).

Hope this helps...