An assailant blew himself up at a police station in Istanbul’s Sultangazi district on Tuesday, killing an officer and injuring eight others, including four bystanders. The Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party-Front (DHKP-C) claimed responsibility for the attack.

Terminally ill cancer patient Muhlis Barut died in hospital before he could get out of jail to spend his final days with his family. President Abdullah Gül had reportedly intervened to fulfill his request, but that did not stop the Justice Ministry from rejecting his plea to speed up the bureaucratic process for his release.

The Turkish General Staff announced that 373 militants of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) had died as a consequence of military operations during the past six months, while 88 troops also lost their lives within a period of nine months.

The expert report on the death of Turkish-Armenian soldier Sevag Balıkçı found suspect Kıvanç Ağaoğlu responsible for engaging in wrongful conduct. The court also accepted the plaintiffs’ demands to send evidence materials to the Forensics Institute.

Demands for pleading in Kurdish marked the first hearing of the Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK) trial of 44 journalists on Monday. Chief Justice Ali Alçık also filed a complaint against the court audience during the second hearing on Tuesday and refused to enter the defense lawyers’ pleas into the court records.

Two consecutive blasts that killed 25 troops and injured four more at a barracks in the western province of Afyon on Wednesday evening triggered a flurry of questions with regards to the cause of the incident. The General Staff consequently issued a statement which criticized the press for its coverage of the blast but failed to yield any answers.

A court in Istanbul ruled to release Sedat Şenoğlu, the executive coordinator of Atılım newspaper who remained under arrest for six years. The court decided to keep journalists Fusün Erdoğan and Bayram Namaz in jail, however.

Actress Arsinée Khanjian and lawyer Fethiye Çetin spoke about what it means to be an Armenian in Turkey and in the Diaspora in a series of programs called “Climbing the Mountain” launched by the Civilitas Foundation and Anatolian Culture.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said they had spoken to the judiciary to lift the parliamentary immunity of BDP deputies in connection with their encounter with PKK militants on Aug. 17. BDP Deputy Ertuğrul Kürkçü said those remarks illustrated how far the government had gone to concentrate all the power in their hands.

Parliament’s Human Rights Commission paid a visit to the Apaydın camp that hosts Syrian rebels in the southern province of Hatay. Opposition MHP Deputy Atilla Kaya said the camp could be providing logistical support for the rebels fighting in Syria, while Kerim Özkul, a deputy of the ruling AKP, denied claims that the camp serves as a training base.

Human rights activists spearheaded by the Nor Zartonk Initiative gathered in Istanbul’s Taksim Square to protest the release of Kıvanç Ağaoğlu pending trial, prior to the deliverance of the final verdict. Ağaoğlu had shot Sevag Balıkçı, a Turkish citizen of Armenian origin, to death while they were performing their mandatory military service.

Authorities reassigned two judges and two prosecutors in the case of the Zirve Publishing House Massacre. The decision constitutes an intervention in a fair trial, according to case lawyer Erdal Doğan, while his colleague Ali Koç offered a different view on the matter.

Following the fierce clashes that took place between government forces and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in the southeastern province of Şırnak over the weekend, Fırat Ataman, a native of the district Beytüşşebap, told bianet that children of the town were overwhelmed by the experience of war.

Transport, Maritime Affairs and Communications Minister Binali Yıldırım referred to social media a “threat” that needs to be contained. Minister Yıldırım later denied allegations that they were working on measures to censor social media, but Dr. Özgür Uçkan from Istanbul’s Bilgi University expressed doubt about his statement.

Hatay Governor Mehmet Celalettin Lekesiz yesterday announced they would no longer permit demonstrations or press statements in the southern border province for the stated purpose of “upholding social peace.”

Emma Sinclair-Webb from the Human Rights Watch (HRW) cautioned that the statute of limitations would begin to apply to cases of unresolved murders and disappearances that took place in the 1990s within three years, while speaking at a meeting in Istanbul.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) issued a press release calling for the removal of the hurdles that lie before the investigation of security forces and civil servants for their roles in murders, disappearances and acts of torture that took place in the 1990s.

Beytüşşebap District Mayor Yusuf Temel claimed the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) had taken control of the district’s outlying areas in wake of Sunday’s clashes that cost the lives of 10 troops, while Şırnak Governor’s Office vehemently denied his claims.

As the Syrian conflict continues raging on across the border from the southern province of Hatay, many locals have grown weary of the presence of Free Syrian Army (FSA) troops in the area and are deeply worried about the impact of the war on the local economy, Ayça Söylemez reports.

The Department of Living Languages in Mardin Artuklu University is set to launch two courses to teach Hebrew and Syriac. Assistant Prof. Mehmet Sait Toprak said their aim was to train researchers who could conduct scientific studies in their own languages.