During operations in the province of Tunceli on Sunday, 15 PKK militants and one sergeant were killed.

Ombudsman Baydar points to the increasing dominance of a discourse inciting to war and hate speech among the media. Journalists have to recall their responsibilities.

Five Kurdish villages in Northern Iraq have been deserted, say local Yuksekova newspaper

The Turkish Initiative against Crimes of Thought, also known as Antenna-TR, has drawn international attention to three recent court cases.

Condemning the PKK attacks, the EU has also called on Turkey to refrain from cross-border operations. Turkey and Iraq are called upon to seek lasting solution.

Perrier, Vigoureux and de Banville, theree French journalists who were detained during border pass have been released, but their camera is seized as "instrument of crime".

According to the IHD in Bursa, Kurdish citizens have become the targets of attacks since 12 soldiers in Hakkari were killed on Sunday. At least six people have been injured.

Yesterday, two French journalists were arrested at a Turkish border gate with Northern Iraq after they refused to show their film material to officials.

Journalists' associations have condemned the government's decision to ban broadcasts about the PKK attack in Hakkari.

The PKK has published photographs of the eight soldiers it took hostage at the weekend.

The TKDF is trying to organise a big rally to condemn terrorism: "In war, it is always us women who suffer most. If we unite, the pain can have an end."

Gürbüz, whose son has been tried and imprisoned for PKK membership, said that she feels the pain of the dead soldiers' mothers: "There should be no death, not in the army and not outside of it".

Four reporters were detained for a short time for covering military activity in the Yüksekova district of Hakkari in south-eastern Turkey.

Political parties of the left and the Union of Turkish Chambers of Mechanical Engineers have called on the PKK to lay down arms and on Turkey to take urgent steps towards democratisation.

After the PKK attack on soldiers in the province of Hakkari on Sunday, it is said that12 soldiers and 32 PKK militants have been killed. There have been strong reactions in the country.

With a turnout of 67 percent, voters passed the constitutional change suggested in the referendum package.

The BIA Media Monitoring Desk publishes regular quarterly and annual reports on the state of press freedom and the freedom of expression in Turkey. The period of July, August and September 2007 has again witnessed many trials for journalists.

After the recent heavy losses in Sirnak, twelve soldiers were killed in Hakkari last night. Sixteen more are wounded, some of them seriously. More than ten soldiers are said to be missing.

After a court hearing yesterday, the court has demanded an expert's report from the prosecution.

Despite pressure from the EU and human rights activists internationally and domestically, the prosecution of journalists, writers and activists under the infamous Article 301 continues.