Journalist Nevzat Onaran, imprisoned in Turkey for the publication and distribution of a brochure on freedom of expression, has been vindicated by the European Court of Human Rights. Turkey is to pay compensation.

In the light of the PKK attack in Tunceli and the ongoing military operations in the East and South-East of Turkey, there have been calls for an ending of violence in order to ensure democratic elections.

As all parties have now declared their candidate lists for the upcoming elections on 22 July, it has become clear that political parties have not made women candidates a priority. Ka-Der has called for a legally inscribed women´s quota.

The PKK attacked a gendarmerie station in Tunceli; seven soldiers were killed and seven more injured. One PKK militant was killed. According to the Gündem newspaper, the PKK has officially taken responsibility for the attack.

Despite the attempts of groups of the left and the pro-Kurdish DTP to collaborate in choosing candidates in the major cities in Turkey which do not have a Kurdish majority, disagreements have emerged. The DTP has withdrawn support from several candidates

According to environmentalists Cangi, Atici and Sahin, the mainstream political parties are interested in profit rather than the right to live. The independent candidates of the left may be an opportunity for environmental groups to get their voices heard

The Proposal to Change the Law on Police Duties and Authorities has been passed by parliament. Presidential ratification is still needed. Parliament has adjourned until after the elections.

International Action Day, which is marked internationally on 5 June, is being taken as an opportunity to protest against Turkeys treatment of conscientious objectors. Turkey is being called on to accept the decision of the European Court of Human Rights.

The True Path Party and the Motherland Party had vowed to unite under the banner of the Democratic Party in order to ensure entry into parliament. The union has now failed.

20 people who are being tried for remembering the murder of a student in Ankara in 1977 are facing the judge for the second time on 8 June. The Middle East Technical University Graduates Association is supporting the defendants.

Women are stil underrepresented in parliament, says the Association for the Support and Education of Women Candidates (Ka-Der). Association members are standing in the elections and are also supporting other female candidates.

Homosexuals complain that their rights are being ignored by political parties again. They are looking for candidates to represent their problems in parliament and are thus turning to independent, women and DTP candidates.

As 4 June is the deadline for the announcement of parliamentary candidates, most groups have decided on their choices. Groups on the left and the pro-Kurdish DTP are fielding independent candidates in order to overcome the 10 percent threshold.

The Chief Public Prosecutors Office in Ankara has begun a trial against the owner and editor-in-chief of the montly Climate in Dersim newspaper for describing Abdullah Öcalan as the leader of the Kurdish people.

Although President Sezers official time in office ended on 16 May, the unsuccessful presidential elections at the end of April have left him in office until a new president is elected. Bianet has taken a look at his life and presidential career.

The constitutional amendment package which President Ahmet Necdet Sezer had vetoed was yesterday passed by parliament without any changes. 397 MPs took part in the secret ballot, and 370 voted for, and 21 against it.

The Turkish Human Rights Foundation (TIHV) has called for the rejection of the law which would increase the power of the police force. Everyone would be a potential criminal and it would be serious attack against personal freedoms, it said.

2006 Nobel litterature prize laureate Turkish writer Orhan Pamuk who took part in the literary festival in Hay on Wye, Wales, said that he does not feel like a writer in exile. His new book will appear in December.

The pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP) has announced that out of around 250 applicants, 75 candidates will be chosen to stand as independent candidates in the upcoming elections. 10 or more women will be among them.

The President of the Constitutional Court, Tülay Tugcu has announced that the court would file a complaint against Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan for his comments on the courts decision regarding the presidential election in April.