Radio and Television Supreme Council ruled for a complete ban on the Voice of Anatolia radio station on grounds that it continiously broadcasted programmes that would cause discrimination and hatred among people of different ethnicity in the country.

Participants of the 3rd World Congress Against the Death Penalty, which gatehered between 1-3 February, called on all countries -especially North African and M.Eastern countries and China- to abolish death penalty and to adopt relevant UN protocols.

Daily Yeni Asya editor-in-chief Faruk Cakır has been convicted of attempting to influence the court. The article in question alleged that the State Council shooting suspect in May 2006 had been solicited by retired army officers.

100 NGOs and 20 000 signees join the petition by IHOP that call for the removal of the notorious article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code. Freedom of expression should only be restrained on accounts of racism, discrimination and call for violence, it said.

General Staffs secret criminal complaint results in a trial for Ismail Besikci on accounts of propulsion to violence and hatred. Known for his dissident opinions on the Kurdish issue Besikcis article appeared on Esmer magazine, December 2005 issue.

Istanbul bureau of the Ankara News Agency is robbed following a controversial article about Hrant Dink murder that was denied by the Police Department. Thieves walk out, taking only the hard disks of computers in the bureau.

Editor-in-chief of Guney magazine Mehmet Bakırs prison sentence is approbated by the High Court despite harsh criticism by human rights groups. AI, IHD, ÇGD, TİHV and Initiative for Association of 78s called for action against this legal scandal.

Freedom and Solidarity Partys 5th Congress witnessed a first in Turkey as half the delegates elected to the party assembly are women. They explain how years of struggle led to this result and the importance of quotas for gender equality in politics.

A 27-year-old commemorative stamp reveals the evergrown conflict coined by consecutive governments on the island, says Mehmet Hasguler: The politics of separation between Greeks and Turks laid roots in Cyprus following the coup in Turkey in 1980.

International Publishers Association and International PEN released a joint action to all IFEX members that urges Turkish authorities to abolish the article 301 of the Penal Code. This article is used to suppress freedom of expression, they said.

Journalist Sinan Kara had been taken under custody and sent to prison, while visiting Batman, for a pending sentence. Hell stay 146 days in prison, told Becerikli of IHD. Sinan Kara had faced numerous trials for his articles in his now-closed newspaper

Yet another incident of abuse and ill-treatment at state child care institutions hit the news but government remains apathetical. MP Erbatur and expert Akco criticize the lack of concrete reforms on the social services system.

A Turkish court ruling recognizes for the first time mobbing, or workplace bullying as grounds for condemnation on the side of the employer. Given its approbation, this decision may constitute a precedent for similar cases, said lawyer Habibe Yilmaz.

A two-day conference on children involved in armed conflict convened with delegates from 55 countries to address the issue and discuss new principles and cautions to resolve the problem. UNICEF says there are 250 000 children fighting in conflicts.

Union of Cyprus Journalists and the European Federation of Journalists condemn the recent attact northern Cypriot cartoonist and columnist Hüseyin Çakmak by nationalists. Çakmaks work promotes cooperation between Greek and Turkish Cypriots

The Supreme Court of Appeals overrules a ruling that acquitted three police officers of allegations of torture despite scientific evidence by forensic medicine. They walk free because of prescription but a journalist that followed the case got condemned.

DİSK and TTB withdrew from the joint NGO group that met to formulate a draft reform proposal on the infamous article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code. Advocating for removal of the article, they criticized the existing proposal as conservative and futile.

Milliyet daily reporter Belma Akçura got condemned to imprisonment on allegations of defamation on her latest book that examines the relations between the Turkish gladio and the establishment. Imprisonment was enclosed to a fine.

Main opposition CHP MP Erbatur submits three parliamentary motions inquiring about governments inaptitude on underage marriages, gender discrimination on employement by the Central Bank and effectiveness of the precautions against violence.

Kaos Gay and Lesbian Cultural Studies and Solidarity Foundation organizes for a second year the International Meeting Against Homophobia. This years main theme will be media. The meeting will be held between May 17-20 in Ankara.