A German citizen child whose father is a political refuge was not allowed to enter Turkey since his name included previously banned W letter, although this law is not in effect any longer. The DTP submits a motion of question.

The seven administrators of the Turkish Road Transport Union have been waiting to appear before the court for four and a half months for the accusations of enrolling members at the union forcefully, founding a crime organization. The union secretary-general blames the employers for the incident.

The Bank accounts of the Turkish branch of Amnesty International, which were frozen by Istanbul governor 17 months ago, are finally released. “Both our freedom of association and our right of property were violated”, says AI.

Amnesty International presents its yearly report. With the freedom of expression violations, the Dink murder, the Malatya massacre, the police violation and the like, the section of the report about Turkey paints a bleak picture.

Far right nationalists storm a Kurdish Festival. Police could not disperse the crowd. One dies. DTP deputy accuses the authorities.

The Court of Justice of the European Communities (ECJ) has overturned the 2002 decision of the European Council to put the PKK on its terrorism list because of an “error of procedure.”

The Initiative for a Turkey without Mines has criticised Turkey for not fulfilling the obligations to clear landmines specified by the Ottawa Convention.

Yesterday afternoon the Constitutional Court announced that it has decided to hear the closure case against the ruling AKP.

As the Constitutional Court rapporteur has left the decision whether to close the AKP to the court, political parties have refused to listen to calls for reconciliation by the businessworld and workers’ organisations.

As part of his Middle East tour, US Vice President Dick Cheney visited Ankara and Istanbul on Monday.

The Turkish Peace Parliament has called on the spring festival to be “an opportunity to face the past" and ÖDP MP Uras has called for "a beginning of a solution."

There have been memorial events of the Halabja Massacre in 1988, in which Saddam Hussein ordered the massacre of thousands of Kurds in Northern Iraq.

The fourth hearing in the Malatya Murders case ended with a postponement as the joint attorneys had demanded a recusation of judges.

The ruling AKP has been in power for six years, but has not made any attempts to change the Law on Political Parties or the constitution. Its current defense smacks less of democracy than of fascism.

Joint attorneys in the case against the suspected bombers of the Semdinli bookshop have withdrawn from the case in protest. They argue that the military court is not independent and there will not be a fair trial.

The prosecutor of the Supreme Court of Appeals has filed a court request to close the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), alleging that it is antisecular.

The US Department of State released its 2007 report on Turkey on 11 March. The report criticises the fact that there has been an increase in torture, that the judiciary is not impartial, and that violence towards women continues.

In the DTP closure case, the Prosecution of the Supreme Court of Appeals has demanded that 221 people be banned from politics. Prof. Köker says there can be no solution when “political participation is prevented.”

On 12 March 1971, a military coup took place in Turkey. Although it has been the topic of a popular TV series, Turkey needs more than one TV programme to face up to its past.

The Labour Platform announced yesterday that there would be a two-hour warning strike on 14 March to protest against the planned reform in social security and health insurance law.