30 rights organizations attended the seminar, where Ugur, Gumrah, Gokcen and Onderoglu made presentations on rights organizations, globalization and becoming influential and visible through the media. The two-day seminar was stage to heated discussions.

Lawyers: The Case Merits the ECHRs Attention According legal experts, demanding pornographic images, consent to medical inspection, and the demeaning process of reporting for exemptions of the gays from military service are against human rights princ

According to legal experts, Turkey is not legally obliged to retry Ocalan. Yet, there exist flaws in terms of fair trial in Ocalan case. Law specialist Sözüer: Ocalan should be retried even before ECHR decison.

Şebnem Fincancı Korur: The process is totally against deonological guidelines. Physicians must not be instrumentalized in cases like this. Mahmut Şefik Nil: Asking for photos and images is a direct violation of personal integrity.

Turkey has adopted in 2003 the right to re-trial right in cases of violation of rights. The main problem regarding the issue is that the law conditions the right with an eye to exempt Ocalan of this right.

The ECHRs decision regarding the Öcalan case will not be about re-trial, but on the right to a fair trial. Mostly these two are confused.

Aggression erupts in Sakarya yesterday, in the wake of nationalist violence targeted at supporters of prisoners rights group TAYAD in Trabzon last week. Members of the Sakarya Youth Association protesting against the incident faces attempted lynching.

Conscientious objector Mehmet Tarhan, who is taken under custody and sent to his military unit, pending trial at the Military Court. Constientious objection should be accepted as legal under international treaties and the Constitution, says attorney.

44 NGO representatives from 11 provinces attended the first Training for Rights Organizations by BIA². We most of the time are at odds with the state because of the region they work in, and added the media prejudiced, the participants said.

BIA2 Project held its sixth local media training seminar in Mersin. Attendants listened to presentations and participated in workshops on rights reporting and discussed the flag crisis and the new TCK.

Authorities failed to investigate the possibility that the murder had any link to his work as a journalist the EHCR decided over the murder of Turkish Cypriot journalist Kutlu Adali in 1997. Turkey is to pay his widow 20 thousand euros.

Ankara court rules release of jailed Austrian journalist Sandra Bakutz. A reporter for Austrian radio Orange 94.0 and German weekly Junge Welt, she was charged with belonging to illegal organization.

Defamation charges have been brought against lawyer Aygun, for saying The Gendarme Commander threatened me in the presence of Tunceli deputies; Gundem representatives were also charged for publishing the remarks.

Lambdaistanbul is planning to conduct a survey on violence and discrimination against homosexuals. The survey will be a first in Turkey. The results will be compiled in a book. All stages of the survey will be carried out by homosexuals.

Prime Minister Erdogan sues Gunluk Evrensel newspaper for publishing the slogans of privatized paper factory SEKA workers. He seeks 15,000 new Turkish liras in damages. The next hearing will be held on May 3, the World Press Freedom Day.

Ocalans proposal to form a confederation without a sovereign state, wasnt found feasible. Kurdish intellectuals, who are distant to PKK: Fantasy. Lawyers: It cant be done. DEHAP: It should be debated.

Prime Minister Erdogan sued the owner and the publisher of the Penguen humor magazine for depicting him as an elephant, giraffe, monkey, camel, frog, snake, cow and duck. Penguen may be ordered to pay 40,000 YTL.

Gendarme prevented an IHD delegation from entering a village of Nusaybin, where they intended to investigate allegations that a 13-year-old shepherd was shot and killed by village guards.

RSF expressed its backing for Turkish journalists as some 250 of them demonstrated in the streets of Istanbul calling for the shelving of a new criminal law threatening press freedom. They have condemned restrictive measures in the new law.

The Local Media Training Seminar by BIA2 Project was held in Bursa with the 26 local reporters and 15 students of the Communications High-School. The trainers made presentations about reporting based on rights and pointed to the mistakes of the media.