Local musicians from Northern Turkey released a statement today, protesting the criticism against Niyazi Koyuncu who had a concert performance at Newroz celebrations in Diyarbakır province on March 21.

A group of college students, artists, local residents and activists protested a session in Istanbul's 13th Biennial yesterday, saying that certain organization funders supported Istanbul's controversial urban renewal projects.

Turkey's intellectuals, artists, academicians and activists signed a manifesto released by Istanbul Policy Center, Sabancı University and Stiftung Mercator Initiative to raise public awareness on climate change.

KCK Executive Council Chair Murat Karayılan declared an official ceasefire with Turkey yesterday, adding that they were ready to withdraw from Turkey depending on Turkish administration's response to the ongoing peace efforts.

Reminding that PKK leader Öcalan's call to lay down arms is irreversible, Peace and Democracy Party Co-Chair Selahattin Demirtaş said at least two commissions would beneeded for the withdrawal.

Feminist artists Arzu Yayıntaş and Neriman Polat launched an exhibition depicting women victims' names of male violence at a traditional coffee house - a place unofficially reserved for men - in Istanbul's Tophane district.

Referring to Abdullah Öcalan's Newroz statement on the withdrawal of PKK guerrillas from Turkey, PM Erdoğan said he saw it as a positive move.

"In the witnessing of millions today I am going to start a new era. Not arms but politics. Our armed forces should withdraw beyond border," Öcalan said in his letter read during the Newroz celebrations in Diyarbakır.

Hundreds of thousand people gathered in Diyarbakır this morning to celebrate the arrival of spring equinox, a major celebration among Turkey's Kurds also known as Newroz. PKK leader Öcalan's message to Kurdish people was read both in Kurdish and Turkish.

Explosions hit Turkey's Justice Ministry building and governing AKP headquarters on Tuesday night, a series of attacks later on claimed by DHKP-C organization.

Police and private security forces intervened Newroz celebrations in Ankara University this afternoon, casting tear gas bombs and wounding several students.

Local business owners, lawyers, politicians of Şemdinli - a far southeastern district where PKK launched its armed campaign in 1984 - spoke up to bianet and expressed their full support on the ongoing peace process.

The European Court of Human Rights found Turkey guilty for inflicting torture on Ayhan Mimtaş, ordering the Turkish state to pay 12,750 euros as damages.

A group of students from Denmark's Naestved Gymnasium and HS high school visited bianet during their trip to Turkey.

A local administrator in Çanakkale province filed an official compliant claiming that a gold drill in the Ida mountain region polluted neighboring rivers and killed water frogs.

Istanbul's French language teachers went on a one-day strike today after MICEL management introduced a new contract that ended most teachers' working permits by the end of 2013.

Turkey's Ergenokon trial reached its 281th hearing yesterday, with prosecutors summing up their case to seek life sentences for 64 defendants including retired generals and an ex-military chief.

Mothers, teachers, NGO representatives and politicians from Şarköy, a district located in the northwestern Turkey, agreed that the 30-years long bloody conflict must end immediately, reminding that Kurdish and Turkish people co-existed somewhat for centuries.

An Istanbul court arrested Kaan Ünsal, a leftist magazine staff, for being an illegal organization member.

Peace and Democracy Party delegation returned from their visit to PKK leader in his solitary confinement this afternoon, bringing Öcalan's message that urged the Turkish government to proceed with its next move towards peace.