A specially authorized Istanbul court finally ruled to release college students Baran Nayır and Ali Deniz Kılıç after they remained behind bars for 30 months. Officials had arrested Nayır and Kılıç on terrorism related charges for their participation at a demonstration.

The government’s inability to shed light on the Roboski Massacre six months after the incident reveals the attitude of the incumbent Justice and Development Party (AKP) toward the Kurdish issue, according to Aynur Aşan, the provincial co-chair of the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) in the southern province of Mersin.

Reports indicate that an article stipulating the abolition of Turkey’s notorious specially authorized courts may be included in the Third Judicial Reform Package pending in Parliament, upon a directive issued by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

A specially authorized court in the eastern province of Malatya sentenced Kurdish-Alevi singer Ferhat Tunç to two years in prison on terrorism related charges due to his invocation of the names of deceased Turkish leftists during a speech on May 1, 2011.

Employees of the Atılım Newspaper and the Etkin news agency (ETHA) staged a protest in Istanbul’s Taksim Square on Tuesday by selling newspapers on the street in response to a police raid into their offices the same day.

Law enforcement officials detained 65 members of the Confederation of Public Sector Trade Unions (KESK) in sweeping raids across Turkey on Monday morning as part of the ongoing probe into the Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK,) sparking protests in Ankara and other cities. Officials reportedly asked the detainees why they chanted slogans against the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP.)

The United Nations’ (UN) Special Rapporteur Frank La Rue announced they were working on an action plan to end impunity for crimes committed against journalists and welcomed the IFEX’s decision to mark Nov. 23 as the International Day to End Impunity.

Law enforcement officials detained journalists İbrahim Çiçek and Ziya Ulusoy, as well as Ali Hıdır Polat, an advisor to the head of the Socialist Party of the Oppressed (ESP,) on terrorism related charges Sunday.

International Delegation of the World Tribunal on Iraq will come to İstanbul to attend first KCK trial and to meet with imprisoned translator Ayşe Berktay.

Journalist Bedri Adanır’s lawyers requested more time from the court where he is standing trial to avert a possible guilty verdict, as Parliament left deliberations on the Third Judicial Reform Package dragging until October. The next hearing is scheduled for Sept. 13.

A court in the southern province of Adana ruled to sentence speech and hearing impaired Mehmet Tahir İlhan to eight years and four months in prison for making propaganda on behalf of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK.)

An Istanbul court passed a landmark verdict to annul the demolition of the city’s historical Fener-Balat-Ayvansaray districts as part of the government’s “urban transformation” scheme. Critics found the decision timely, unlike in the historical Roma district of Sulukule.

The Istanbul Chief Prosecutor’s Office vindicated daily Cumhuriyet columnist Bekir Coşkun of charges leveled against him by Turkey’s General Staff for an article he penned, while CHP deputy Sezgin Tanrıkulu also proposed an amendment to nullify a law that prescribes prison terms for insulting the president.

Fatih Mayor Mustafa Demir said he was certain the Council of State would not ratify the recent court decision to annul the project to “transform” Istanbul’s Sulukule district, a historical Roma quarter, adding that a new project was also in the works just in case.

Human rights organizations called for an end to all violence between the Turkish military and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) during a press release today, following fierce clashes that killed and injured scores of people from both sides in recent days.

13 inmates lost their lives and five were injured during a fire that broke out inside a prison ward in the southeastern province of Urfa on the evening of June 16. The incident may have come about due to rights violations caused by overcrowding, according to allegations.

The mothers who lost their children in the Roboski (Uludere) Massacre arrived in Istanbul to demand justice 173 days after the air strike that killed 34 civilians last year in the southeastern province of Şırnak.

Human rights organizations decried the new draft law on the Turkish Human Rights Institution (TIHK) during a press meeting at the headquarters of the Human Rights Association (IHD) on June 14.

Prominent representatives of Turkey’s Alevi minority sharply criticized the government’s move to include elective courses on the Alevi faith in school curricula as part of the new controversial education reform bill.

Turkey failed to take any concrete steps to execute the verdict passed by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) over the murder of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, case lawyer Fethiye Çetin told the Committe of Ministers of the Council of Europe in a letter.