EFJ President König deplored the lack of freedom of expression and press freedom in Turkey. He also claimed a lack of democracy and emphasized that the violation of press freedom and freedom of expression could not be seen as an "internal affair".

The ECHR handed down monetary fines worth € 27,600 in total to Turkey. The latest sanctions stem from the refusal of national courts to return books to publisher Öztürk and from injuring lawyer Tuncer in a clash with the police at a demonstration.

Turkey ranks first among the number of countries convicted for rights violations by the European Court of Human Rights in 2010. Russia is on second position of the list of 47 countries. Main reasons for Turkey's convictions were the fairness or the length of trials.

The European Court of Human Rights convicted Turkey of a violation of the "right to respect for private life" upon an application lodged by 10 prisoners. They had applied because letters in Kurdish written to their families had not been dispatched by the prison administrations.

The Initiative for Boycott Against Israel for Palestine stages a protest rally in Istanbul on the anniversary of Israel's Operation Cast Lead against Gaza on 27 December 2008.

These documents are the dreadful hypocrisy of the international system that is working under the hegemony of the USA. They utterly confirm the opinions put forward by the social and political opposition and anti-militaristic and democratic forces on the topic of mutual distrust and calculations based on elections.

According to a cable transmitted by US American diplomat Miles published by WikiLeaks, the former Turkish Ambassador to Ashgabat (Turkmenistan) filled Miles in on information on a nuclear co-operation between Russia, Turkmenistan and Iran.

A cable published on WikiLeaks confirmed that the USA has nuclear weapons in Turkey, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. Gordon from the US Ministry of Foreign Affairs said, ""If the nuclear weapons will be withdrawn from the 3 countries, it might become politically very difficult to retain Turkey's stock of nuclear weapons".

Leyla Halid made history as the first female guerrilla when she led the hijacking of a plane in the 1970s to draw the word's attention to the Palestine question. She told bianet why she smiled on that famous photograph and how a basket of dates saved her family...

Turkey ranges in 138th position among 178 countries reviewed for the World Press Freedom Index issued by Reporters without Borders. This is a further decline compared to last year's 122nd rank. RSF criticized the quickly increasing number of sanctions against journalists.

Top officials from Turkey and the USA met in Brussels on the sidelines of a NATO meeting to discuss the missile defence system project intended to be set up against a supposed threat from Iran. The USA pushes Turkey to join the project.

Renowned international experts like Richard Falk, Noam Chomsky and Hilal Elver attended the 7th Istanbul Gathering for Freedom of Thought on 9/10 October. Turkish journalists, publishers and artists gave an insight into the legal procedures launched against them because of their thoughts.

This year's special prize of the International Publishers Association will be awarded to Turkish publisher İrfan Sancı who is currently facing imprisonment on charges of "obscenity". The Freedom to Publish Award goes to Russian journalist İsrapil Shovkhalova.

The International Press Institute condemned the prosecution of journalist Saymaz on the grounds of articles related to the "Ergenekon" trial and investigation. He faces imprisonment of up to 79 years. IPI Manager Mills criticized the authorities.

The International Press Institute rewarded Turkish journalist Nedim Şener as one of 60 World Press Freedom Heroes in a ceremony in Vienna on 14 September. The IPI Steering Board condemned Turkey for detaining and prosecuting dozens of journalists.

Turkey will chair the UN Security Council for one month starting from 1 September. Political Scientist Gerger demurred that Turkey is not on the side of peace but "on the front of war and attacks".

On World Peace Day on 1 September, demonstrations for peace are being organized all over the country. Many of the organizations call for a peaceful solution of the Kurdish question to stop the armed conflicts. Northern and Southern Cyprus are celebrating together.

Although it was pre-arranged, police stopped us and said that the letter would not be accepted, said Reverand Esau, who took the letter to Turkey’ s London Embassy. “We are very saddened but we will not stop our efforts to try and engage the Turkish government.” " Tutu, in his letter, had asked Erdogan to solve the Kurdish problem through peaceful negotiations.

Bianet has asked international and Turkish activists why so few people joined the march of the European Social Forum on Saturday.

Dozens of media representatives attended the International Forum for Informing Citizens in Nice to talk about the different sections of journalism and press freedom and to convey the basic concepts of media to thousands of high school students.