79 province capitals have male mayors. With the election of Çerçioğlu in Aydın and the election of a second woman, Şahin, in Tunceli, there are now two female province capital mayors. According to the provisional results, there are only 17 other female mayors at the district or town level.

Five Turkish-Armenian men and one woman have been voted into municipal councils in four district municipal councils in Istanbul.

Evaluating the election results, Türk from the DTP said that the “charity approach” of the AKP has not worked. The DTP has won in Diyarbakır, a city that Erdoğan wanted to win in, as well as in seven provincial and 51 district municipalities.

Local TV station reporter Akyol has been beaten by a group of alleged AKP members, as he was trying to cover the election results in Giresun. AKP lost the mayor in the city to main opposition CHP.

Province party chair Tekin has announced that the CHP is contesting the results in five districts of Istanbul as well as the town of Safranbolu.

Certain municipalities have greater symbolic value than others, and Prime Minister Erdoğan had told party members his list of targets, most of which have not been reached.

The police made use of the address-based registry of voters to find out where wanted persons would be voting. 590 people were taken into custody. Rights activist Yurtsever was wrongly detained.

As around 98 percent of the votes have been counted, AKP, CHP and MHP share around 78 percent of the votes. The pro-Kurdish DTP has gained.

More than half the votes were counted by 11 pm. At the province municipal council level, the AKP now stand at 39, the CHP at 21, the MHP at 17, the DTP and the SP at 6 percent.

By 9 pm on Sunday, 29 March, 23 percent of the poll boxes had been opened. At the province municipal council level, the AKP has so far received 41 percent, the CHP 19 percent, the MHP and DTP 7 percent each, and the SP 6 percent. As for mayoral candidates, in Istanbul and Ankara the AKP candidates Topbaş and Gökçek are leading. In Izmir, the CHP’s Kocaoğlu has received most votes so far. In Diyarbakır, the DTP’s Baydemir is leading.

The second Ergenekon indictment speaks about the murders of Kurdish intellectual Musa Anter and DEP MP Mehmet Sicar. It also mentions the disappearance of two HADEP politicians in 2001.

According to research carried out by the Positive Life Assocation, HIV positive people are not receiving adequate care by the health service and are misinformed. They also face discrimation in other areas of their lives.

The second indictment in the Ergenekon case, accepted by court, claims that the organisation planned to take over the PKK and HADEP, and that it had relations with the MLKP.

The case involving Italian peace activist Pippa Bacca's rape and murder is postponed once again. The police declared that CCTV recordings are terminated. The court demanded phone records of the suspect. Next hearing is on April 22.

Dicle News Agency condemned the police action against their reporter, Abdurrahman Gök. He's accused of "making terrorist propaganda". Currently, four reporters of the agency are in prison.

In the Üzmez case, the judges have demanded a new report on child B.Ç. Öztürk from the Bursa Women’s Platform says that this would increase the trauma of the child. The fact that Üzmez is being tried without detention means that there is no deterrent for sexual abuse.

The Prime Minister has annonced a crisis package which involves a three-monthly reduction in certain taxes.

Reporters without Borders has reported that Kurdish Journalist Surwan Omar was arrested on 17 March because he wrote an article about the abuse of authority.

Eight organisations will monitor the local elections on Sunday, 29 March, in order to make sure that they are carried out democratically. Most of the sixteen provinces to be monitored are in the east and southeast of Turkey.

Şırnak Bar Association chair Elçi says relatives of disappeared persons applied for support. Excavations for remains of alleged victims of extra-judicial killings in 1990s will continue in coming days. A former gendarme commander is under arrest.