EFJ President König deplored the lack of freedom of expression and press freedom in Turkey. He also claimed a lack of democracy and emphasized that the violation of press freedom and freedom of expression could not be seen as an "internal affair".

Hundreds of thousands of people came together in Istanbul and Diyarbakır for this year's Newroz celebrations. The Kurdish politicians had clear messages for the government. They urged for a peaceful solution of the Kurdish question and for a democratic constitution.

20 people were taken into police custody in the course of the recent operations related to the murder of three people at the Zirve Publishing Company in Malatya in 2007. Plaintiff lawyer Cengiz calls for a merger of the case with the Ergenekon trial.

The application of Kurdish politicians Aysel Tuğluk and Ahmet Türk to restore their status as members of parliament was dismissed. Both politicians were subjected to a five-year political ban after the ban of the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party in 2009.

The Freedom for Journalists organized a demonstration in Ankara with their demands to "release detained journalists from prison" and "amend laws that restrict press freedom and freedom of expression.

Chambers and associations of Turkish engineers, architects and physicians issued a joint statement against planned nuclear power plants in Turkey. They said that they were not going to allow a power plant to be built in south-eastern Turkey. A protest action is scheduled for Saturday.

Dicle News Agency reporter Çiftçi has been detained at the Bitlis E Type Prison for 10 months since she was arrested as part of the KCK operations in Hakkari last year. An indictment has not been prepared yet. Three appeals against her detention were dismissed.

Ergenekon Prosecutor Zekeriya Öz gave the directive for an operation in nine different provinces all over the country. The searches are related to the murder of three people at the Zirve Publishing Company in Malatya in 2007. 20 people have allegedly been taken into custody.

The appeals against the detentions of journalists Ahmet Şık and Nedim Şener were rejected by court. Both were arrested on 6 March in the scope of the Ergenekon investigation. The decision does not mention a concrete reason. Turkey is facing national and international criticism.

According to a report of the Human Rights Association, 46 women were killed by men in 2010 for reasons of "honour". 281 women and children applied to courts because of sexual harassment; 182 women and children were raped.

The four major non-governmental organizations DİSK, KESK, TMMOB and TTB will express their protest against the policies of the ruling Justice and Development Party in a joint press statement that will be released in Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir on 18 March at 12.30.

The US American rights organization Freedom House expressed concern about press freedom in Turkey also in respect to the recent developments. In a press release it was said that continuing harassment and detentions of journalists were an "alarming threat to press freedom".

20 people were sentenced to imprisonment of ten months each on charges of "spreading propaganda for an illegal organization". They were convicted on the base of a sit-down protest action organized by the banned Democratic Society Party in Diyarbakır 2008.

The "Sledgehammer Coup Plan" trial was continued on 14/15 March, one month after the Istanbul court decided to release arrest warrants about 163 people of whom 157 were arrested in the meantime. Ret. General Çetin presented his 85-page defence speech.

The Prosecution of Diyarbakır lifted the access ban applied to the Blogspot websites. It might take a few days until all sites are accessible again. Thousands of websites including news sites are still affected by the censorship.

Journalist Ahmet Şık, detained in the Silivri Prison for more than a week now, wrote a letter to bianet and described his daily routine at prison. He also wrote about the reasons for his arrest: "I was arrested because I am a journalist, because I do journalism".

A study of the Turkish Human Rights Foundation revealed that torture still persists at Turkish police stations, gendarmerie posts and prisons despite the government's "zero tolerance" policy against torture.

The European Court of Human Rights questions Turkey about a potential violation of the right to life and torture allegations regarding the Return to Life operation at the Bayrampaşa Prison eleven years ago.

At the "Friends of Ahmet Şık Talk about Ahmet" forum, Turkish journalists and human rights defenders declared not to fall silent until the release of journalist Ahmet Şık. Colleagues and students talked about Şık as a person and about his work as a journalist.

As a first decision on the "1938 Dersim Incidents", the Hoza Prosecution decided to drop procedures because "the crime of genocide was not constituted" and the case "fell under the statute of limitation". Lawyer Agyün: "We will appeal and go until the ECHR if necessary".