NEWS - Bianet

NEWS

Page 331

Doctors Elect Rights Activist for President

Active Democratic Group surfaces as victor of all chairmanship and council elections held for the Turkish Medical Association (TTB). Newly elected chairman Prof.Dr. Gencay Gursoy says there wont be a TTB that submits to Ankara bureaucracy.

Thousands Rally Against Discrimination

Organized by the leftist Freedom and Solidarity Party 6,000.rally against discrimination. Party chairman Kozanoglu criticizes pending Anti-Terror Law and urges: Everyone, including those on the mountains, should be granted the right to participate.

Journalist Demirkaya to Stay in Prison

Tunceli courts reject appeal for release of DIHA reporter Rustu Demirkaya who was arrested for aiding the PKK. Journalist to be tried in Malatya. RSF calls for temporary release.

26 June 2006 Erol Önderoğlu

Dilipak: Military Trials Should Be Abolished

On trial at a military tribunal for a published article, journalist Abdurrahman Dilipak says new draft bill limiting military trials of civilians not good enough. It brings a civilian court system but guards trying a case by Military Criminal Law.

26 June 2006 Erol Önderoğlu

Semdinli Bookstore Owner Yilmaz Arrested

Arrest order issued a day after Van court sentences two officers caught after bombing of Yilmazs Umut bookstore in Semdinli town of Hakkari. IHD Istanbul says he was most important witness in revealing state force involvement in bombing.

Semdinli Gang Not Only Three People

Diyarbakir Bar Association chair Tanrikulu: Semdinli defendants should be punished for acts to destroy the unity of the state. We will go to the Court of Appeals. The organization should be revealed with the whole of its structure and its crimes.

21 June 2006 Tolga Korkut

Jurist Dogan Cleared On Anti-Terror Article

Beyoglu Prosecutors Office decides not to prosecute jurist Dogan for his Direct Warfare Concept: TMY article in Gundem newspaper. He had expressed his concerns on the new Anti-Terror Law which sparked a Justice Ministry appeal to investigation.

19 June 2006 Erol Önderoğlu

US Nukes at Incirlik Questioned

Opposition CHP deputy Elekdag prepares to table nuclear bombs issue at Parliament: We dont need them, lets send them back. Global BAKs Mater: Secret decree is still kept secret. Agreement may have been automatically extended.

12 June 2006 Tolga Korkut

Dissident Sociologist Cleared of Bombing

Pinar Selek a dissident sociologist is acquitted in Spice Market Bombing case as court still unsure whether blast that killed 7 and injured 127 in 1998 was a bomb or LPG explosion. Charges dropped against other co-defendants but 3 get life terms.

8 June 2006 Erol Önderoğlu

Baydemir Faces 2 More Charges

Diyarbakir Metropolitan Mayor Osman Baydemir faces four year imprisonment under two new cases launched against him. Baydemir is charged for causing economic loss to municipality and using a municipal ambulance to carry the dead body of a PKK member.

10 Killed in Southeast Clashes

Clashes this week between PKK militants and security forces in Diyarbakir and Sirnak claims lives of 5 soldiers, 3 village guards and 2 PKK. 2 Soldiers wounded in PKK mine blast in Bingol province. Operations continue.

Women Debate Equality Laws

Woman rights activists from Belgium, Iran, Morocco and Turkey meet for Equality between Women and Men seminar organized jointly by Amazone centre and Pazartesi magazine. Seminar hears Moroccos efforts to modernize Sharia laws, Iranian CSO efforts.

29 May 2006 Ayşe Durukan

Diyarbakir: Investigation on 31 Torture Cases

Diyarbakir Prosecutors Office has launched investigations into 31 claims of torture under detention. Bar Association Chair Tanrıkulu says There were over 400 torture, mistreatment claims. Even a partial investigation is positive. But still nothing.

26 May 2006 Tolga Korkut

More Needed To Treat HIV-Positive Children

International Community Must Do More To Treat HIV-Positive Oxfam, Plan International, Save the Children, UNICEF, World Vision and others come together to Rally for Child-Focused Treatment.

4 DTP Executives Face 15 Years Jail

Four DTP Officials who were arrested for alleged involvement in the Diyarbakir incidents where 11 people including 5 children died, have been charged with assisting the PKK and committing offences on behalf of the organization.

Pledges to Trace Back Gladio Unconvincing

Saglar: To open the Susurluk file means challenging the system. Neither Erdogan nor Baykal have such a concern. Birdal: Agar and the National Security Council should be put on the agenda. Without Susurluk and its continuation unveiled, no democracy.

26 May 2006 Tolga Korkut

BİA² Holding 2nd Jurists Workshop

Freedom of Expression Workshop directed at lawyers will be held at the Istanbul Hotel Villa under the framework of the BİA² project implemented by the IPS Communication Foundation. Approximately 30 lawyers from 15 provinces to attend May 27-28 workshop.

Woman MP Calls PMs Wife to Unveil

Main opposition CHP MP Canan Aritman sends letter to PMs wife Emine Erogan calling on her to either dress properly to represent Turkish women abroad or stay at home.

25 May 2006 Şehriban Oğhan

Jurists March in Protest of Recent Attacks

Lawyers of the Istanbul Bar Association have marched to Istanbuls Taksim Square in protest of recent attacks on State Council and Cumhuriyet daily. Accompanied by judges and prosecutors, around 1,000 jurists pledge support to secularism and democracy.

State Council Murder Targets Role Change

Human Rights Foundation chair Onen says Turkish-Islamic synthesis reviving in different shape with State Council attack and notes nationalist atmosphere in lack of leftist movement brings economic benefit to politics. The compromise is about an economy o

24 May 2006 Tolga Korkut

Withdraw Anti-Terror Draft, Stop Operations

Women from 11 organizations stage sitting protest against new Anti-Terror Bill in front of Istanbuls historic Galatasaray High School. Women say chauvinist and anti-Kurdish policies threaten them the most.

22 May 2006 Ayşe Durukan

No to USA Meeting in Iskenderun

Patriotic Front holds weekend meeting in Iskenderun saying no to USA, rejecting alleged plans to convert popular Mediterranean seaport into a US base. Iskenderun Port is not for sale protestors say.

Court Assassination Suspects Jailed

Lawyer Arslan the chief suspect for the killing of Council of State judge and accomplices jailed after court order. Former officer Muzaffer Tekin, still under interrogation for charges of soliciting and ordering the armed attack

Former PM Ecevit Fights for His Life

Democratic Left Party Honorary Chairman and five ties Turkeys Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit fighs for his life after suffering a brain hemorrhag. Ecevit, unconcious remains in intensive care after 4.5 hour surgery.

Turkish Media: Greatest Attack on The State

Turkeys mainstream media covers the attack on Council of State judges as the worst attack against state institutions ever. Mainstream Turkish dailies Hurriyet a secularist newspaper and Islamist Zaman publish columns alarming for a grave situation.

Judges Cant Function Under Death-Threat

Lawyer İlkiz saysAttack on Council of State is a despicable massacre of law. Prof. Dr. Azrak: A justice mechanism operating under heavy threat cannot fulfill its function. Judges are humans too. Responsibility is with the whole of the administration.

18 May 2006 Tolga Korkut

Charges Against Justice Encouraged Attack

Attack on Council of State judges condemned by President Sezer, PM Erdogan, Minister of Justice Cicek and a number of NGOs. Sezer: This is an attack against the secular republic. MAZLUMDER says the attack shouldnt be associated to the Council of Stat

HRW: No Excuse for Attack on Judges

Court decision to ban headscarf cannot justify murder says international rights group Human Rights Watch upon the killing of a Turkish State Council judge and wounding of four others who had decided to ban headscarf in state offices.

Nationalist Attack Dissidents During Trial

Armenian Turkish journalists Dink and Engin were attacked during court hearing in Istanbul. Defendants escaped near-lynch attempt under police protection. They are exploiting court cases for nationalist plots says Dink.

Human Trafficking Victims on Rise

IOM and Police Directorate record significant increase in human trafficking in Turkey. 583 women from other countries rescued from traffickers and returned home since 2004. 6 thousand plus caught and sent back due to prostitution.

9 May 2006 Ayşe Durukan

Terror Indictment Against Düzel Dropped

Prosecutor Karacal justifiying with procedural reasons drops his indictment against journalist Nese Duzel for the words of pro-Kurdish politician Orhan Doğan whom she had interviewed for daily Radikal. Yet the case against DTP official Dogan will continue

9 May 2006 Erol Önderoğlu

Journalists Duty To Criticize PM Say Judges

Court of Appeals quashes compensation sentence against Radikal daily journalist Yıldırım Turker in Prime Minister libel case. Court says the behavior of the Prime Minister can be debated and even severely criticized

9 May 2006 Tolga Korkut