The Draft Law on Execution of Penalties, introducing forced labor, uniforms, defining silent protests as disciplinary crimes and imposing solitary confinement aimes at legalizing psychological torture, say human rights activists.

The BİA² third quarterly Media Monitoring Report for the period July-September 2004 deals with 26 court cases and 69 journalists. Two journalists are threatened by ruling AKP officials and a daily is heavily fined for a cartoon critical of Erdogan.

Police Headquarters, in great self-sacrifice, cooperate with RTUK and do monitoring and recording in places RTUK does not have facilities, said RTUK head Fatih Karaca during the opening ceremony of the Monitoring Units Training Seminar.

Local publisher Bogatekin faces fine for the printing houses omittance of the date and address of his company in a past issue of Gerger Firat paper. Albeit reduced to 2,5 percent of the original after new laws the publisher is still dissentient to pay.

The Green Group in the European Parliament, in a public statement after 3-day meeting in Istanbul, encourages Turkish government for further change, and for taking the European Commission advise seriosuly in the negotiations for full membership.

Gur from DEHAP, Tuzel from EMEP, Kozanoglu from ODP and Kocali from SDP talked about their views on the EU, and commented on the EU progress report on Turkey. They argued that the report was inadequate in reflecting shortcomings in democratic rights.

TIHV and IHD chairs argued that prime minister is not being democratic in his messages toward human rights organizations, and in his speech at the EC. They said its wrong to make a connection between voicing human rights violations and terrorism.

Ozgur Der argued that the European Commissions progress report on Turkey only focused on the problems faced by the non-Muslims and the non-Sunni in practicing their beliefs, but completely ignored the problems of the Sunnites.

Military control over RTUK ceases, yet radio broadcast bans continue says the report BİA² media monitoring report. 11 cases against 13 journalists have continueed; 6 journalists have been detained during July-September period.

International Publishers Association sent a letter to the Presidency of the EU and the Commission seeking their assistance in calling upon the Turkish Authorities to abandon the Armenian Genocide, a measure jeopardizing freedom of expression.

On the Personal Disarmament day, the Hope Foundation commemorates 3,000 people who die every year in Turkey through personal weapons. Gezer from the Foundation said owning weapons can only be prevented through peaceful solutions to problems.

When one of the parliamentarians said that today was an historic day for Turkey and Europe, Prime Minister Erdogan said, yes, it is. We hope that our expectations will be met.

European Commission today recommens start accession negotiations with Turkey.provided that certain key legislation which is in preparation enters into force. The Commission report will be finally decided by the European Union Summit in December.

Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan said, We find the Commissions assessment and analysis generally balanced.

Sexual crimes are listed under crimes against individuals; the notion of honor is removed from the TCK; partner rape is considered punishable; domestic violence is defined as torture; the article on women marrying their rapists is removed.

EU experts think that the meeting between Prime Minister Erdogan and EU Enlargement Commissioner Verheugen was positive. Dr. Kaleagasi and Dr. Aktar believe that the government first created an unnecessary controversy, and then cleaned up the mess.

While the Come On Girls, to School campaign is continuing, two sisters in the Gazlikuyu village are still working in cotton fields. The girls could not talk to the reporter since they cannot speak Turkish.

Mayor Yilmaz made a press statement and denied the morality guard reports in the media. He argued that the incident was a ploy. Cakir, who reported the incident said the implementation has been going on for months and said he is behind his news story

Turkish Parliament finally adopted the controversial reform of the Turkish penal code. Although applauded exaggeratedly by Verheugen and some EU leaders because of absence of the mention of adultery, the new TCK is full of many anti-democratic articles.

Turkish Justice Minister Cemil Cicek said that any article of the Turkish Penal Code could not be interpreted as restricting rights or freedoms.