The president Gül ratifies the revised 301, which now forbids denigrating the Turkish Nation rather than Turkishness. The permission to open a case will need the approval of the Ministry of Justice and the cases will be heard in the Criminal Court of Peace.

The Initiative Against Thought Crime restarts its activities as a reaction to the increased number of law suits targeting people who simply express their opinions. 200 people report themselves to the authorities for the same “crime”.

The court accuses the family of Baran Tursun, who was shot by a police office for not stopping his car, for violating Article 301. The father had criticized the court procedure, claiming that the accused were favored.

The Supreme Court of Appeals confirms the acquittal of Prof. Dr. Kaboğlu and Prof. Dr. Oran, who were on trial for four years for the Minority Rights and Cultural Rights Report they prepared to improve the role of civil society in Turkey.

Islamist-feminist Hidayet Tuksal bursts against AKP spokesperson Firat's statement that "AKP women would not be slaves to the feminist ideology". Feminist activist Filiz Karakus is of the opinion that AKP leadership is worried of the feminist elements in their ranks.

Dengir Mir Fırat of AKP claimed that the feminist thinking creates a medium of clash between man and woman. He addressed AKP women “AKP’s women” and said that they would not be slaves to the feminist ideology.

Journalists do not draw a picture of a “contemporary” country, when it comes to the freedom of the press and the way the journalists are treated in Turkey.

BİA Media Monitoring Report showed that in the first quarter of 2008, 186 people, 71 of whom are journalist, were tried for 92 cases and 12 new cases were opened for violating Article 301. The publication bans threaten the right to receive information.

DISK president Çelebi tells that they will take the May Day prohibitions and the police violence, what they call “state terror”, to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) and the International Labor Organization (ILO).

Unions ended the May Day activity in Şişli following the excessive violence by the police forces. DİSK president Çelebi said that “Our friends ended up in the hospitals. They used all kinds of violence. Whole Turkey became Taksim.”

The Turkish Parliament passes the revised 301 with the new expressions of “Turkish Nation” and “the State of the Turkish Republic” and lowers the upper limit for imprisonment to two years.

Trade unions from DİSK, KESK and TÜRK-İŞ confederations, professional organizations and political formations will meet in Şişli and march to Taksim. Targeting the administration, Tombul from KESK says: “Do not resort to the shameful act of using violence against people”.

The DISK lawyer Okcan indicates that the court rulings disprove the governor Güler. “Taksim is open to the soccer celebrations, police marches, tulip festival and to the new year festivities, but closed to the workers. He is trying to lower the participation by scaring people away.”

PM Erdoğan says yes to a May Day press statement and a wreath-laying ceremony in Istanbul's central Taksim Square, but no to a meeting. The unions propose to enter Taksim only from one side. Çelebi from Disk says they do not want this square closed to them.

Far right nationalists storm a Kurdish Festival. Police could not disperse the crowd. One dies. DTP deputy accuses the authorities.

In the next hearing on July 7 Dink's murder suspect O.S. will be 18 and the trial open to the press. An informant-defendant, İğci who has refrained from testifying, will be assigned a lawyer to be heard in the next hearing the judge decided.

“What happened on April 24, 1915?”. Ara Sarafian of the Gomidas Institute, debates with Turkish colleagues Keskin, Aydın and Zarakolu. It's high time to face the past, intellectuals urge.

15 months later, with a hearing nearly every three months, the court has still not determined all the responsible parties in Hrant Dink’s murder trial. The lawyers do not think “a few young men planned the murder.”

Two chief inspectors appointed by the Ministry of Interior have resumed investigations on March 22 incidents in Siirt. Journalists requested to hand over pictures and videotapes in search of evidence.

“We have not been able to get a hold of those, who planned and provoked the incident, and their organization,” stated joint attorney Tahir Elci. “Maybe we will have more information after the questioning of Emre Gunaydin.”