The Kosovan parliament has made a unilateral declaration of its independence from Serbia. The EU and the USA support independence, while Serbia and Russia oppose it.

In its annual report for 2008, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) criticised Article 301 and the nationalist obstruction of press freedom. The murder of Hrant Dink could have been prevented.

Two “peace mothers” were taken into custody after trying to make a press statement in Taksim. Activists have called for their release.

The 1st Chamber of the State Council has decided that former minister and police chief Mehmet Agar should be tried in the Susurluk case for "forming a criminal organisation."

As the rest of the world is trying to find alternatives to nuclear energy, Turkey is just launching its plans for the first two sites. Environmentalists and local groups are protesting.

The continuing deaths of shipyard builders in Tuzla, on the outskirts of Istanbul, are due to lack of security at the workplace.

Cynics have remarked how quickly the ruling AKP acted on lifting the headscarf ban for university students while ignoring other, more pressing issues of rights and freedoms.

Yesterday yet another worker at an Istanbul shipyard died. Workers have long protested at the unsafe and inhumane working conditions on shipyards.

Around 400 academics have signed a statement which calls for democratisation not only around clothing rules at university.

A reaction in the Turkish press to the fire in Ludwigshafen which killed nine Turks shows how great the need for more balanced reporting is. A newspaper accusing Germany of covering up a neo-Nazi attack is perpetrating racism itself.

Publisher Mehdi Tanrikulu has been sentenced to five months imprisonment for writing a petititon in Kurdish and for speaking Kurdish in court. He will appeal against the sentence.

The Peace Parliament organised a symposium entitled “Democratisation and the Kurdish Issue during the New Constitutional Process.” Without women, peace is not achievable.