After attacking journalists Magden and Temelkuran who spoke out against the nationalist manipulation of children, the Tercüman newspaper is being taken to court.

The trial of the murder suspects of journalist Hrant Dink continues with the third hearing today. The hearing will be recorded and might yet be opened to the press, pending a court decision.

There is continuing reluctance to link the different trials in Trabzon, Samsun and Istanbul concerning the murder of journalist Hrant Dink. Senior police and gendarmerie officers are still not on trial.

RSF joins the International Press Institute and the Cartoonists’ Rights Network International in their condemnation of the planned prosecution of two cartoonists.

The demonstrators who had set out from Diyarbakir to Sirnak in order to protest against cross-border operations spent the night at Cudi Mountain.

The BIA² 2007 Media Monitoring Report reveals that there are still countless violations of press freedom across the country. There were also more attacks on journalists in 2007 than in the previous year, with the shocking murder of Hrant Dink still fresh in everyone's mind.

After a fire in a building in Germany killed nine Turks, five of them children, there have been suspicions that the building was set fire to deliberately.

An Istanbul court dropped the case against Hrant Dink’s lawyer Erdal Dogan for writing that nationalist lawyer Fuat Turgut should be tried for threatening Hrant Dink.

A march against cross-border operations in Northern Iraq, organised by the pro-Kurdish DTP, was sent off by some 20 thousand people in Diyarbakir. Convoy joining from Istanbul was held up after constant searches.

After questioning the expenditure of a district governor in the Devrek district of Zonguldak, journalist Ibrahim Tig faced a five-year trial. He was acquitted on 30 January.

Both the International Press Institute and the Cartoonists' Rights Network have protested against preliminary proceedings against cartoonists Kart and Temocin who stand accused of insulting the President.

At the first hearing of the eight soldiers taken hostage and then released by the PKK, the court decided to release them all pending trial. After more than two months, the soldiers are reunited with their families.

The annual Human Rights Watch Report on Turkey is pessimistic about developments. The report condemns freedom of speech violations, harassment of the DTP, violence against minorities and civilians.

Prof. Dr. Narli predicts that the proposed constitutional change will reduce social tension. Yet the current debate is also diverting attention from the Kurdish issue and the global economic crisis, she believes.

Veli Kücük, Kemal Kerincsiz, Sevgi Erenerol, now under arrest for charges of "conspiracy" had already come into notoriety for the part they played in the provocative shows in the trials opened upon their own complaints against liberal intellectuals.

“The DTP, as the elected representatives of the Kurds must be allowed space; the PKK must be taken seriously,” warns reputed sociologist Prof. van Bruinessen pointing out that the Kurdish problem arises out of inequality and denial of cultural rights.

It is clear that the USA, the Turkish General Staff and the ruling AKP have agreed to break the back of the Ergenekon organisation. The question now is whether this operation will be used to shed light on cases like the Hrant Dink murder.

IHD members gathered in Taksim on Saturday to protest against the rise in militarism and nationalism in Turkey: “Don’t kill anyone and don’t make anyone else kill."

So far, thirteen alleged members of the ultra-nationalist Ergenekon gang have been arrested, among them three retired army officers. If the investigation is carried out in a serious manner, light will be shed on many events of the last years.