European Union has come to an agreement in its struggle against single-use plastics. Greenpeace Mediterranean has made a call to Turkey: “Turkey should take this step taken by the EU as an example and ban the single-use plastics as the EU has done.”

Removal from İstanbul Atatürk Airport to the 3rd İstanbul Airport, which was previously announced by authorities to take place by the end of December, has been postponed. Some parts of the new airport have been flooded after heavy rains.

According to a report released by the Laborers’ Health and Occupational Safety Assembly on the occasion of International Migrants Day, at least 108 migrant-refugee workers have lost their lives in occupational homicides across Turkey in 2018.

Prof. Korur-Fincancı has commented on the prison sentence she has been given: “The state, which did not let us into prisons as civil organizations who are striving for human rights, lets me in as 'an official monitoring investigator'”.

The Vice President has announced that press cards of 1954 journalists have been canceled in the past three years. CHP MP Sertel has said that occupational organizations should be included in the press card commission.

Prof. Dr. Şebnem Korur Fincancı, who signed the declaration entitled “We will not be a party to this crime” prepared by Academics for Peace, has been sentenced to 2 years and 6 months in prison. Her sentence has not been reduced or suspended.

As per the Presidential Decree published on the Official Gazette, the rate of value added tax on electronic newspapers, magazines and books has been raised to 18 percent.

Pentagon has announced that Turkey has been cleared to purchase 3.5 billions of US Dollars worth Patriot missile systems. On the extradition of Gülen, the White House has said that President Trump “will have a look at it”, but there is no promise.

The story book “Seher”, which was written by HDP’s imprisoned former Co-Chair Selahattin Demirtaş, has been given the “PEN Translates” award by the English PEN. The award has also been given to 15 other books from 15 countries and 12 languages.

According to a report released by the World Economic Forum, while Island has ranked the first in terms of gender equality, Yemen has ranked the last. As for Turkey, it has ranked better than 19 countries out of 149 others.

At the 28th İstanbul Heavy Penal Court, academic Gülçin Karabağ has been sentenced to 1 year and 3 months in prison on charge of “propagandizing for a terrorist organization”; the announcement of the verdict has been suspended.

HDP Honorary Chair Ertuğrul Kürkçü has been sentenced to 2 years in prison due to the speech that he made during Newroz celebrations in Iğdır in 2016. The verdict will be considered by the Court of Appeal.

The Press Council has pointed to the possible negative outcomes of the recent amendments to the press cards regulation. In a written statement, the council has called for cancellation of the regulation.

Having been threatened by President Erdoğan, who addressed him by saying, “You cannot even find the chance to escape”, CHP Chair Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu has responded, “Who are you to decide whether I will live or not? Who are you?”

Former Diyarbakır Metropolitan Co-Mayor Gültan Kışanak, who has been arrested for more than two years, has gone on a hunger strike in solidarity with HDP Hakkari MP Leyla Güven, who has also been on a hunger strike in prison for 40 days.

Diren Coşkun, an LGBTI activist and transgender inmate from Diyarbakır, who was arrested for 17 months, has been released from prison.

Representatives from journalism organizations have commented on the threatening statements of President Erdoğan, who addressed TV anchor Fatih Portakal by saying, “If you don’t know your place, this nation will hit you in the back of your head.”

Erdoğan has threatened Fatih Portakal, whom he accuses of calling people to streets, saying “If you do not know your place, this nation will hit you in the back of your neck”. He has also repeated the claims that Gezi protesters entered a mosque with beer bottles.

Violence scars more than just the social fabric of our communities, more than tissues of our flesh, it scars our human souls, it dehumanizes us.

Prof. Dr. Abbas Vali has presented his statement of defense in company with an interpreter. The court board has adjourned his hearing to March 27, 2019 for the provision of his identity register and criminal record.