Milliyet newspaper’s responsible editor Çakkalkurt has been sentenced to imprisonment for violating a military media ban on the PKK attack in Dağlıca. Posta reporter Cumalı has been convicted of violating the privacy of a person.

The newly announced November 2008 data on unemployment does not reflect the rapid decline in the economy since the end of October. Future prospects for employment are bleak.

During a trade union meeting in Istanbul, police officers demand "official" identity cards from journalists trying to cover the story. bianet's Cakir was among those barred from entering the meeting site.

Official figures reveal 645 thousand more unemployed in November last year. "Import depended production means capitalism itself is to blame for unemployment" says Prof. Ercan. "A comprehensive struggle is needed to transform government policies."

The Turkish Statistical Institute has announced the data of November 2008. Unemployment has risen among young people, and the total number of unemployed is nearly three million.

Minister of Justice Şahin told parliament that 1,042 people were tried under Article 301 in 2006 and 2007. 11,720 people were tried under the Anti-Terrorism Law; 17,510 more were accused of “membership in an illegal organisation and 6,582 people of leading such organisations.

The tenth anniversary of the arrest of PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan was marked by demonstrations in several cities in the southeast of Turkey. There were clashes between protesters and police.

Hanife Yıldız stood at Galatasaray Square to demand her son from the state. The Saturday Mothers, relatives of political activists who disappeared, have restarted their protests which began 24 years ago.

Some 40,000 workers rally in Kadıköy, Istanbul, in the weekend to protest against paying the price for global capitalist crisis. There were clashes between members of the right-wing and left-wing metal workrs unions.

UNICEF and deans of faculties of communication sign a joint protocol to include rights of the child in their curricula. Courses will begin in September 2009. bianet's efforts to introduce children's rights-based journalism contributed to the incentive.

Turkey's Union of Journalists initiate strike action as the employer firm Turkuvaz Media fails to negotiate a collective agreement. This is the first strike action in press in 29 years, as media remains nearly union-free to date.

A family in Diyarbakır has finally learnt that three of its members are among the dead bodies found in 2003. They are still missing two other people.