Amnesty Internationals letter to Günter Verheugen Commissioner for Enlargement of European Commission: Forthcoming assessment of Turkeys progress towards fulfilling the Copenhagen Criteria

The people in Diyarbakir are disturbed by the fact that Kurdish will only be taught in private courses. They dont want to pay to learn their own language, and advocate that the state should let Kurdish be taught in public schools.

The children of public workers listed their demands at the protest by the Mersin branch platform of KESK: We want free education, health care and proper nutrition. They demanded increased government aid and more maternity rights.

Izmir Commercial Stock-Exchange and the Bosnia Herzegovina Chamber of Foreign Trade have signed a cooperation agreement. With this agreement, the two institutions will exchange information, jointly decide on quotations and cooperate in marketing.

Incirlik American Air Bases Turkish workers are on strike with demands of a pay rise. This is the fifth labor strike at the base. Workers ask for pay rises once in three months, employers insist on granting pay rises only once in six months.

Workers children visited their fathers at the Pasabahce SiseCam Factory. The workers began the protest nine days ago, when the production was halted. The unions, and the Beykoz Mayor Cati, went into the factory to visit with the workers.

The minimum wage announced as 184 million 251 thousand Turkish Liras ($110). Protesting the new minumum wage, DISK chair Celebi said: Let alone the Constitution, this amount does not even accord with the least humanitarian values.

The BSCE brings together former Soviet republics of Ukraine, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Moldova and Turkey, Russian Federation, Rumania, Bulgaria, Greece and Albania who undersigned the cooperation in the inaugural Istanbul summit in 1992.

What is going on? Whats wrong if the Turkish Lira is appreciating excessively? Cant the floating currency regime that is capable of anything, rasp all extremities?

GAP region exports dropped to 15.8 million dollars in the first quarter of 2002. Exports in the region totalled 26 million dollars in the first quarter of last year.