The full report highlights the struggle and prosecution of 373 people in the context of violations of freedom of expression. It has been divided into subsections, namely Attacks and Threats, Detentions and Arrests, Trials Concerning Freedom of Press and Expression, Corrections and Legal Redress, European Court of Human Rights, Reactions to Censorship and Implementations of RTÜK (the Radio and Television Supreme Council).

Rather than giving a complete account, the report intents to give an insight on the density and diversity of applications in the field of press freedom and freedom of expression.

Attacks and Threats

Lawyer Mebuse Tekay received death threats via electronic mail from the Turkish Revenge Brigade (TİT) and declared to file a criminal complaint against the organization. Tekay commented, "This is nothing to comprehend or to accept. We presented a legal application, what is therein?".The lawyer added, "Chief of General Staff İlker Başbuğ does not need this sort of protection". In the course of the religious holiday after the fasting month of Ramadan, Başbuğ went to the province of Mardin in the southeast of Turkey and gave a speech at the Sınırtepe Police Station. He was quoted as saying: "Especially people from this region, our citizens, including eastern Anatolia, these people support the aghas [village clan chiefs]. If we are at this point today, this is one of the basic foundations. Those who have suffered from aghas are now suffering from political and terrorist aghas. One of the basic questions is how to free our people from political and terrorist aghas". Istanbul Independent MP Ufuk Uras and activist Cengiz Algan filed a complaint against Chief of General Staff İlker Başbuğ. The petition was also signed by Oya Baydar, Baskın Oran, Ahmet İnsel, Mithat Sancar, Mebuse Tekay, Aydın Engin and Sezgin Tanrıkulu. The prosecutor transferred the petition to the Military Prosecutor's Office, saying that it "exceeded his authority".

On 24 September the Siirt High Criminal Court Prosecutor Erdal Bozoğlu requested heavy prison sentences for detained defendants Feyzi Aldemir, Hamit Kurt, Feyaz Aldemir and Tahir Aldemir over allegations of assaulting and seriously injuring journalist Diya Yarayan. Prosecutor Bozoğlu requested heavy prison sentences for the defendants on the grounds of a "deliberate attempt to kill a person". Upon the prosecutor's final request Bozoğlu summarized the incident, saying that on the day of the assault the police was informed about a fight in front of Selami Değer High School. The people who had injured Yarayan escaped in a car and ignored orders to stop. The car's plate could be identified. The people in the vehicle threw 2 sticks out of the rear window when they tried to escape from the scene. After the car was stopped, two people with ski masks got out of the car. Bozoğlu placed on the record that the Forensic Medicine Report confirmed mortal danger for Yaranyan resulting from the injuries from the assault. The court decided to hear the statements of the witnesses of the defendants. Sedat Çakmak, Abdulhakim Siper and Mahmut Uğur unanimously stated that they did not know who assaulted the victim. This also concurred in the defendant's statements.

Owner and editor-in-chief of the Batman GAP newspaper Mansur Obut filed a complaint against Governor Ahmet Turhan. The journalist accused the governor of attacking him in his office after publishing a news article on 24 September entitled "No interest in Bayram". Bayram is the religious holiday in the end of Ramadan, the Islamic month of fasting. The news item went as follows: "Especially regarding the official institutions, Ramadan Bayram has passed extremely cold and quietly. This year for the first time the celebrations happended only in the garden of the governorship and were not crowded at all. The lack of people at the celebration and people not joining the Bayram vistis are a result of governor Turhan's mismanagement and his not integrating the people". Obut claimed that when the article was published he was called to the governor's office. The journalist explained, "After insulting me very badly, Turhan pushed me against the wall and started to punch me with his fists on the pit of the stomach and on the chest. He said that he would not let me lead my life in Batman and that he would give instructions to all institutions to deny entry to me and my newspaper".According to the statement from the governor's office, Obut as the president of the 'GAP Media in the Development of Social Society Press Support Association' applied for a "Women's Rights Awareness Project" called SODES. He allegedly showed this kind of behavior because the project had been found inadequate and thus was rejected by the State Planning Agency (DPT). The journalist replied to the governor's office's allegation by explaining that this project belongs to the previous governor's term in office.

Yakup Önal, owner of the local 'Sesi' ("Voice") newspaper, was assaulted when he took pictures of a bus that had tipped over after an accident on 9 September. The incident happened in the Şarköy district of Tekirdağ, a city west of Istanbul. 3 bus drivers from the Istanbul 'Seyahat' ("travel") Company attacked the journalist. Önal's back was injured as a result of the assaults. The journalist complained at the district's Police Department. The journalist explained what happened after the assault: "Under the surveillance of the police I came to the emergency room of Şarköy State Hospital. Several tests were made and I was kept there for three hours under observation. Then I was taken to Tekirdağ State Hospital where I had done a tomography since the severe hits on my back could have caused inner bleeding. I was kept under observation for some more time and then was released from hospital. I cannot work right now because of the pain resulting from the assaults". The bus drivers that had attacked the journalist were arrested. After having taken their statements, the public prosecutor released the aggressors.

The GAP Journalists Association condemned the attack of journalist Ömer Pınar from Doğan News Agency (DHA). On 7 August Fakıbaba visited tradesmen in the Tarihi Hanlar region. Pinar expressed his compassion for the knife attack Fakıbaba had escaped and upon asking him questions about the incident, the mayor kicked the journalist. The nearby factory staff members stepped on the journalist. The Contemporary Journalists' Association and the Photo Journalists Association condemned Fakıbaba's attitude towards journalists as well. The GAP Journalists Association criticized, "Press freedom is not a freedom only used in connection with the press and press institutions. In democratic countries the freedom of the press is perceived as the people's freedom to be informed. And in order to make free news about individuals in an age of communication, the ruling people should claim press freedom, watch and protect it". As far as Fakıbaba was concerned he stated that the news published did not reflect realtity.

Gerger Fırat newspaper owner Hacı Boğatekin was assaulted on 28 July when he tried to take pictures of a fire that broke out in a municipality waste dump at the edge of Gerger district of the south eastern province of Adıyaman. Newspaper owner and editor-in-chief Boğatekin was attacked by municipality staff when he wanted to take pictures of the forest fire. He underwent medical treatment in the Gerger Health Centre because he got injured in his face. Boğatekin stated that he had been assaulted by municipality personnel and mayor Arif Karatekin. The journalist's camera was damaged beyond repair. Journalist Boğatekin filed a criminal complaint against mayor Arif Karatekin and the mayor's brother İlhan Karatekin. The Gerger Fırat newspaper had published an article, entitled "Municipality Shocked by Confiscation", concerning a trial against the municipality launched by workers who had been made redundant without receiving compensation payments. Newspaper owner Boğatekin said that one of the attackers addressed him before the assault, "You cannot make news out of us, you cannot take our pictures". Boğatekin had been tried dozens of times for harshly criticizing the actions of the Greger officials. He served a 109 days prison sentence for being found guilty of connecting a prosecutor with the religious Fetullah Gülen movement. The Press Institute Foundation and the Press Council condemned the attack. The Council argued, "The actual assault was against the public's right of being informed. We declare that we will follow the legal procedures and that we are particularly against any sort of struggle to undermine the right of the media to make news and the right of the public to be informed".

On 24 July the Trabzon 2^nd Magistrate Criminal Court decided to launch an investigation into activities of Yasin Hayal from the Trabzon Province Gendarmerie Command who is tried for hiring people before the murder of Hrant Dink. Hayal is one of the defendants in the case against 8 gendarmerie officers under allegations of negligence towards the murder. Former Provincial Gendarmerie Commander Colonel Ali Öz and 7 un-detained soldiers did not attend the hearing. The judge decided to acquire information and documents from various institutions to obtain new information. Joint lawyer of the Dink family Bahri Bayram Belen stated that in case the request will be accepted, the murder could be investigated from several directions. "Colonel Öz did not say anything clear about what he did. However, it is obvious that he brought it up in the weekly or more frequent provincial security meetings with Hayal and his collegues", Belen said. The judge demanded to disclose the names of Hayal's informants in the Gendarmerie Command of the Trabzon distirict of Pelitli where Hayal used to live prior to the murder. The judge decided to call these people to make a statement before the court. The court is going to ask whether incriminating information had been passed over the Gendarmerie's notification line 156. The court furthermore requested a certified copy of the referring report including attachments of the National Assembly Presidency's Parliamentary Sub-Commission concerned with the murder. Additionally, the court requested certified copies of any existing protocols or records from the Trabzon Governor regarding activities in public security meetings held by Hayal and his colleagues prior to the murder. The Istanbul Public Prosecutor's Office demanded a copy of Veysel Şahin's statement he gave before the Malatya Public Prosecutor's Office in the context of the "Ergenekon Case". The prosecutor's office claimed the acquisition of any proceedings concerned with Şahin. The case was postponed to 23 October. Besides Colonel Öz, another 7 people are tried under charges of negligence prior to the murder of Hrant Dink on 19 January 2007: intelligence branch officers Captain Metin Yıldız, non-commissioned officers Gazi Günay and Hüseyin Yılmaz, sergeant Okan Şimşek, specialist sergeants Veysel Şahin, Hacı Ömer Ünalır and Önder Araz. All 8 officers are facing a 2 years prison sentence.

Söke Gerçek newspaper owner Durmuş Tuna was beaten in front of his 8-year-old daughter and 11-year-old niece by 8-10 attackers with sticks on 6 July. He suffered fractures in his right arm. The attackers ran away when they were noticed by a by-passer. The journalist underwent medical treatment in a hospital. Tuna stated to the police that he had been attacked by 7-8 people he did not know. Tuna claimed, "It is our job to write what we think is the truth. And we do that within the framework of law and democracy. For whatever reason, this attack on my person and on my profession is beyond any understanding, I am sorry". The Turkey Journalists Society (TGC) has supported Tuna in his call for the instigators to be found and prosecuted, "We are sadly observing a rising number of attacks and threats against the people and institutions that support the thriving of democracy in this country and against journalists working under very difficult conditions in the local media".

At the tenth hearing of the Dink murder trial at Istanbul's 14th Heavy Penal Court yesterday (6 July), the court warned the Istanbul police, the Ankara Telecommunications Directorate, the Police General Directorate and the Trabzon police to send the information requested by the joint attorneys. The court warned, "Send the information, or there will be legal proceedings against those responsible." Defendant Yasin Hayal was described as a "good guy" by the Trabzon gendarmerie, according to the statement of Veysel Şahin, himself detained in Malatya prison but called as a witness. Şahin, who said that he himself sometimes worked as an "intelligence officer", stated that he did not know Erhan Tuncel who is tried under allegations of persuading others to act on his behalf. Şahin told the court that Tuncel worked for the Trabzon Gendarmerie Command lead by Colonel Şinasi as an intelligence officer because he stayed in Chechenya and was fluent in Arabic. Şahin had been told by branch president Feridun Yüzdaşı about Hayal, "He is a good guy, he loves his country and nation." When Hayal was asked about Şahin's utterances, he said he did not recognize him. Tuncel requested to join a Witness Protection Program as soon as he was released since his name had been revealed which made him a target of terror organizations. Mesme Havva, supposedly the first person on the scene after Dink was murdered, turned to defendant Samast and said "This is probably the culprit. I cannot remember completely. Since it was winter their faces were obscured". The court decided to invite witness statements of seven people, and to force those who had been called before to come to court, namely Mithat Alkan, Ergün Çağatay, Serkan İskender, Lerna Atan, Ayşe Pamiş, Şahabettin Şahin and Cemal Yıldırım. The judges further declined the demand for release of five detained defendants Ogün Samast, Erhan Tuncel, Yasin Hayal, Ersin Yolcu and Ahmet İskender. Ogün Samast, the young man accused of fatally shooting journalist Hrant Dink on 19 January 2007, threatened the Dink family and joint attorneys by saying "Only five more years...", implying that he would then be released. The eleventh hearing will take place on 12 October. An unidentified witness will be heard, and it was demanded that the necessary technical preparations be made. Furthermore, the gun used to kill Hrant Dink will be brought to court. The court decided to again ask the Police General Directorate to send a transcript of a conference entitled "Missionary Activities in Turkey", organised by Ergenekon detained defendant Sevgi Erenerol. Should the directorate not comply, the court will initiate legal proceedings. Joint attorneys had also complained about Ramazan Akyürek, head of the Police Intelligence Unit, and his unit, for not sending the documents and reports relating to the time prior to the murder. The court decided to request the relevant documents F3, F4 and F5 again.

Arrests and Detentions

General publications coordinator Nadiye Gürbüz from Izmir Democratic Radio was released by the Istanbul 9th High Criminal Court on17 September after the second hearing of her case. Gürbüz had been arrested in the course of an operation against the Marxist-Leninist Communist Party (MLKP) and was kept in detention for more than 8 months.The journalist's trial will continue but without Gürbüz's being in detention on 26 January 2010. Gürbüz was arrested in a raid on her home in the Izmir district of Balçova on 4 February. Three days later on 7 February she was taken to court and got detained. The radio journalist was brought to the Bakırköy Women's Closed Prison on Istanbul's European side.Gürbüz's first hearing took place on 27 August when her request for release from detention was rejected. Mine Özalp and Sakine Solmaz, who were detained together with Gürbüz, were released after the first hearing. Gürbüz is tried under charges of membership of the MLKP and conducting the organization's financial affairs. The court rejected the claim for Gürbüz's acquittal.

Former chief editor of the Kurdish newspaper Ayadiya Welat Vedat Kurşun will be kept in detention at least until 2 December because of news and articles about the Kurdish question and the PKK organization. He had been arrested on 30 January 2009 at Atatürk Airport in Istanbul on the grounds of his refusal to testify in a court case before the Diyarbakır 6^th High Criminal Court. He was detained and transferred to the Diyarbakır D type prison later on. Kurşun was taken to the Diyarbakır court on 10 September for the first time since he has been arrested. Kurşun called for his release, emphasizing that he had been in kept detention for a long time and that he became a victim. The court decided not to release Kurşun but extended his detention instead. Kurşun's lawyer Servet Özen declared in the hearing that the news in the paper were made within the context of freedom of the press, aiming to inform the people. Özen explained: "The news and articles were published in the opinion that they did not carry elements of crime. The issue of discussing the democratic initiative is a topic currently being printed and discussed in the entire press regarding the topic of the PKK and Adullah Öcalan as interlocutors. So why do these publications account for a crime as far as my client's newspaper is concerned?" Pointing out that some columnists in the national press even discuss the "interlocutor" issue, lawyer Özen underlined in the hearing that his client merely conveyed the events without making additions on his own behalf. More than 20 trials have been filed against the journalist. Kurşun is under charge of "helping and concealing the PKK organization by campaigning for the PKK" and of "glorifying crimes and criminals" in the news published in numerous issues of the Kurdish daily newspaper. If the court should conclude that the propaganda was made in a systematic way, Kurşun can additionally be trialed under the accusation of "membership of an organization".

The 104th hearing of the first Ergenekon trial took place on 24 August before the Istanbul 13^th High Criminal Court. The case of the State Council attack in Ankara on 17 May 2006 was merged with the Ergenekon trial. Ferit İlsever, member of the Workers' Party (İP), said: "Those who accuse me and (İP party leader) Doğu Perinçek of meeting with PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan in the indictment now put all of Öcalan's utterances onto the front pages. The waves of Ergenekon arrests have worn out the Turkish Armed Forces, and have oppressed the people, particularly universities, the judiciary and all state organs. At this point, an alliance of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and the PKK has put the 'Kurdish initiative' onto the agenda. I want to hear former Justice Minister Cemil Çiçek to illuminate the Talatpaşa Committee's efforts abroad". Prof. Dr. Yalçın Küçük is prosecuted within the scope of the third indicitment of the Ergenekon case under charges of "establishing or directing an armed terror organization", "the attempt to abolish the Turkish National Assembly or prevent it from doing its duty" and "the attempt to abolish the Turkish Republic or prevent it from doing its duty". On the grounds of Küçük's notes the indictment suggests a conneciton between the Ergenekon organization and the PKK. According to the indictment, Küçük directed the organization together with another suspect called Mehmet Haberal, concluding from the writer's notes that Küçük shared the "same organization house" with Haberal and İlhan Selçuk. Selçuk is defined as the intellectual leader of the organization in the indictment. Cumhuriyet newspaper Ankara correspondent Mustafa Balbay is tried in detention under charges of the "attempt to alter the constitutional order by armed force" in the context of the Ergenekon case. He claims that the notes mentioned in the indictment do not belong to him.

The Istanbul 10th Heavy Penal Court continued its hearing in the trial against 23 people accused of membership in or leadership of the illegal Marxist Leninist Communist Party (MLKP) on Friday, 26 June. Those detained include Füsun Erdoğan, the broadcasting coordinator of the Istanbul Özgür Radyo ("Free Radio") station, and editor of the Atılım newspaper, İbrahim Çiçek. The defendants were arrested during the so-called "Gaye" operations in around 10 provinces on 8 September 2006. They face up to 40 years imprisonment, some of them standing accused of "attempting to change the constitutional order by force". The documents presented as evidence by the Istanbul Police Directorate were discussed controversially. The court released Erkan Salduz and Arzu Torun. Statements of another 4 people were taken during the hearing, among them Ocaklı village chief Ali İhsan Demiralay from the district of Aydin in the west of Turkey who witnessed the police raid of the home of Naci Güner. The witnesses referred to Güner as "Ali Taş" and to his wife as "Mrs Taş" respectively, knowing them to have lived in the village for more than 10 years and making a living from agriculture. They were described as helpful people that did not give reason for any suspicions. Joint attorneys argued that their clients have been held for 2 years and 8 months. They accused the police of deliberately trying to draw out the case, as four officers called to the hearing did not appear. The next hearing was scheduled for 6 November.

Erdal Güler, owner and editor-in-chief of Devrimci Demokrasi ('Revolutionary Democracy) newspaper, could be released in December as long as he will not be convicted because of the new files. Güler was detained on 26 December 2007 under allegations of "spreading propaganda for the PKK and MKP (Maoist Communist Party)". After his arrest Güler had been taken to the Amasya Prison, having pending more than 30 cases against him. He was sentenced to 21 months imprisonment and a fine of more than 60,000 TL (approx. € 27,300). Güler is tried under charges of "praising crime and criminal offenders" on the grounds of an article published in the Özgür Düşün ('Free Thought') magazine issue of March-April 2005 saying "We respecdtfully remember Mahir Çayan and his comrades". Another trial was opened because of Gülers commemoration of İbrahim Kaypakkaya in the 1-16 May issue of the "Revolutionary Democracy for the people" newspaper. Lawyer Ümit Sisligün voiced his hopes for Güler's release on 11 December 2009, conceding that the pending trials might prolong the duration of the sentence. Güler will appear before the Istanbul 11^th High Criminal Court on 11 December and before the 13^th High Criminal Court on 29 December.

The Erzurum 2^nd High Criminal Court started the prosecution of Youth Federation members İlker Ekiz, İbrahim Karataş, Mustafa Doğan and Elbil Çınar on 18 August. The group was arrested after having organized a caricature exhibition in the Sivas branch of the Education and Science Workers' Union (Eğitim-Sen), entitled "America is the Common Enemy". The 5 men are detained in the Sivas E Type prison (central Anatolia). The court accuses them of "Opening a caricature exhibition", "reading the 'Attitude' magazine" and "membership of the Youth Federation". They are charged with "membership of an illegal organization", "spreading propaganda for an illegal organization" and "opposition to the Law on Meetings and Demonstrations". Lawyer and member of the Contemporary Lawyers Association Taylan Tanay argued that they were arrested after an attack at university and after reactions of democratic mass organizations. The case was postponed to 5 November.

Gazetevatan.com publishing director Aylin Duruoğlu was taken into custody on 27 April and arrested three days later, following the operation against an organisation called "Revolutionary Headquarters". A militant member, a police officer and a young bystander were killed during part of the operation in Bostancı, Istanbul. Duruoğlu was arrested by decision of the Istanbul Duty 12^th High Criminal Court and sent to the Bayrampaşa Women's Prison in Istanbul. Other journalists have protested against her arrest by gathering in front of the Vatan newspaper's office. On the 15^th day of her detention Duruoğlu's friends and colleagues took pictures of a banner saying "We love you, Aylin, and we support you", sending the pictures to Duruoğlu's circle of friends for moral support. Lawyer Naime Kılıç said that Duruoğlu had studied in the Political Sciences Faculty at Istanbul University with Orhan Yılmazkaya, the militant who was killed in the shoot-out in Bostancı on 27 April. She had met with him because he had written a book called "Turkish Hamam". She added that her client had no knowledge of Yılmazkaya's links to any illegal organisations and that she had made a detailed statement to the police. Kılıç claimed in her application, "The file lacks any proof and circumstancial evidence. Nothing esle is documented but the meal she had in the Astoria shopping centre next to the newspaper office. My client is a victim. Evreybody who touched or saw Yılmazkaya is declared guilty. Organizational crime is a very serious criminal offence. My client will be acquitted. There is no need to try her in detention". At the same time, Revolutionary Movement magazine employee Mehmet Yeşiltepe's organizational relations were descirbed as "conspiracy". The trial of Duruoğlu and Yeşiltepe will begin on 23 February 2010 at the Istanbul 9^th High Criminal Court.

Gün TV general publishing director Ahmet Birsin from Diyarbakır is in prison since 14 April after he was taken into custody in the context of a PKK operation. The journalist is detained in the Diyarbakır F Type Prison. After 5 months, there is still no indictment concerning Birsin or the other detained defendants. The Diyarbakır Chief Prosecutor's Office announced that the operation concerned "the Turkey coordination Unit' consisting of 8 members of the PKK" and was conducted after 1 year of technical surveillance, telephone tapping and observation of bank account movements. The police searched the Gün TV office on behalf of a search and confiscation decision issued by the Diyarbakır 6^th High Criminal Court. The operation was also carried out in cities like Istanbul, Ankara, Batman, Mardin, Adana, Elazığ, Gaziantep and Şanlıurfa.

Abdurrahman Gök, reporter for the Dicle News Agency (DİHA) was first harrassed and then taken into custody when covering the Newroz celebrations in Siirt, southeastern Turkey. The beginning of his trial is scheduled for October. Gök is accused of terrorist propaganda because he had written down the slogans shouted and written down on placards and because he had been linked to Roj TV. On 25 March, he was taken to the Siirt Public Porsecutor's Officed which ordered his arrest and sent him to Siir Magistrate Criminal Court. He was taken to the Siirt E-Type prison. Another reporter from DİHA who was at the Newroz celebrations in Siirt, Celal Kalpak, witnessed the following: "When Gök was taken into custody, we were at the exit of the celebration area. The police harrassed him and then took him into custody. When I objected, a police chief said, "Your friend has thrown stones at the police." I told him that that was not credible, that Gök was just covering the event as a reporter, and that the detention was arbitrary". Kalpak said that there were different accusations levelled at Gök all the time. "First they said that he had thrown stones at the police. When that was not credible, they said that he had manipulated the crowd; finally, they said that he was taken into custody for terrorist propaganda because he had written down the slogans shouted and written down on placards and because he had been linked to Roj TV."

DİHA news agency announced that agency employees Ali Buluş, Mehmet Karaaslan, Faysal Tunç and Behdin Tunç are imprisoned under allegations of "connections to the PKK". However, it is not confirmed yet whether the detentions are linked to "journalistic activities".

Trials on Press Freedom and Freedom of Expression

On 30 September, the Ankara 11^th High Criminal Court decided to take the statement of DTP Istanbul MP Sebahat Tuncel by force. Tuncel is going to be interrogated about her announcements regarding the Kurdish question. Tuncel and another 23 members of the DTP Women Parliament are tried under charges of "praising a crime and a criminal" defined by article 215 of the Turkish Criminal Code. The court decided to force Tuncel to make her defence applying articles 146 and 199 of the Criminal Procedure Law. With this decision the court referred to the decree of the Court of Appeals 9^th Criminal Office dated 15 October 2008, which ruled that "the crime of violating the indivisible unity of the state and the nation was constituted" as defined in article 14 of the constitution. The Ankara Court decided to issue a warrant to the Ankara Bar Association Presidency in order to assign a lawyer to defendants Tarık Yıldırım and Meryem Demir. The following hearing was scheduled for 30 December. Deputy prime minister Bülent Arınç commented, "In my opinion the DTP MPs should not be prosecuted. However, it would be a very nice gesture of them to give their statements".

The Diyarbakır 5^th High Criminal Court found lawyer Erin Keskin, theater actor Murat Batgi and author Edip Polat guilty of "inciting hatred and hostility" and handed down a 1 year prison sentence to each of them on 29 September. The accused had been trialed because of using the terms "Kurdistan" and "Kurds" in a speech on the occasion of the 6^th Culture and Art Festival in Diyarbakır three years ago on 31 March 2006. Furthermore, the court decreed to deprive Keskin, Batgi and Polat of their rights to the assumption of a public office, to do duty for institutions and organizations, the right to vote and be elected, and the right to manage structures such as associations, foundations, companies, unions and parties.

The Police General Directory claimed to become joint plaintiffs in the case against wirter Nedim Şener. The author faces up to 8 years imprisonment because of his book "The Dink Murder and the Lies of Intelligence". However, the Istanbul 2^nd Criminal Court of First Instance rejected the claim, saying that it denounced the Police Gereral Directorate's file and the indictment, reasoning that there was no immediate damage inflicted. Şener recounts the negligence of police, gendarmerie officers and MİT prior to the murder. He stands accused of revealing classified information, of turning people on duty against terrorism into public targets, and of attempting to influence the judiciary. The trial was continued on 29 September. The court declared that it received an an answer of the Prime Ministry Inspection board and postponed the case to 2 February 2010 to review the report and evaluate the requests in the meantime.

Despite the parliamentary immunity the Ankara 11^th High Criminal Court decided to bring convicted co-chair Emine Ayna of the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP) and Diyarbakır MP Selahattin Demirtaş to court by force. A new notification will be issued to DTP president Ahmet Türk. The Kurdish MPs have been prosecuted because of the contents of speeches they have made. The court adjourned the case on 26 May this year. It was postponed till 29 September because the MPs' statements were to be taken with a court notification. Ayna explained that she is not going to testify in the continuation of the court proceedings on 29 December either. Member of the Marmara University Law Faculty Prof. Dr. İbrahim Kaboğlu said that after a pending of the case for more than 3 months this situation can be solved by removing the exception related to article 14 concerning "terror crimes" as mentioned in article 83 of the constitution about "constitutional immunity". The Diyarbakır 5thHigh Criminal Court asked the Ankara court for taking the statement of Diyarbakır MP Selahattin Demirtaş, for Türk it is the Istanbul 9th High Criminal Court and for Ayna it is the Adana 8th High Criminal Court.

The Public Prosecutor's Office of Çıldır in the province of Ardahan (northeast of Turkey) set a precedent with the decision not to prosecute the journalist. Governor Öner Çan had lodged a complaint against journalist Fakir Yılmaz from kuzeyanaldolugazetsi.com ('northern Anatolian newspaper'). The governor asked for prison sentence for the journalist, accusing him of "defamation". Reason for Çan's complaint was a news article published on 11 January 2009 on the newspaper's website and in that day's issue of Taraf newspaper. Yılmaz had reported about Çan's order to surround military tents on the frozen lake of Çıldır with a barrier of snow, piled up by a bulldozer of the local authorities. Headline of the article was "Authorities of Ardahan must have gone crazy". [The Turkish word for 'crazy' is identical with the place's name 'Çıldır'.] The prosecutor's office stated: "Regarding topics of general interest or topics attention should be drawn to it is the duty of the press to objectively and truthfully illuminate these issues to the people, to trigger public discussions from different points of view, to issue accurate and truthful information about social and political structures, to criticize authorities, to warn and to control within these means, and moreover to raise individual awareness of the society's and the people's problems".  Journalist Yılmaz was notified of the decision on 24 September. As a result, there is no need of starting an investigation on Yılmaz under charges of article 125 (Defamation) of the Turkish Criminal Code (TCK).

The Gaziantep 2^nd Criminal Court of First Instance continues the case against weekly Çoban Ateşi ('Sheperd's Fire) newspaper editor-in-chief Yasin Yetişgen on 1 October. He is tried for an article entitled "Mother, don't send me to the military" written by Berkan Coşkun and published on 8 November 2007. Prosecutor Mahmut Yalçın Arı demanded Yetişgen's prosecution under law No. 5816 on Criminal Offences to the Disadvantage of Atatürk and under article 318 of the Turkish Criminal Code regarding "alienating the public from military service". According to prosecutor Arı, crimes were constituted by the following parts of the article: "The greed of gain in the escalating war must be laid out and regarding military service the conscience must reject being a part of this dirty war" and "Mustafa Kemal himself gave the order for the Derism massacre". The court had granted Yetişgen additional defence in the previous hearing. Reviewing Yetişen's criminal record, the journalist has to appear before the court on 18 Feburary 2010 on the grounds of the article "Gaziantep and Çoban Ateşi" published in 2007 and containing the statement "Gazianep is an industrial city of Northern Kurdistan". Author of the article Hurşit Kaşıkkırmaz is accused of "inciting hatred and hostility". An arrest warrant was issued for Kaşıkkırmaz who is living abroad.

The Diyarbakır 6^th Criminal Court of First Instance continues the case against Sur Mayor Abdullah Demirbaş, deputy mayor Hüseyin Kaya, purchase deputy manager Resül Baran and manger of cultural affairs Mehmet Ali Altunkaynak. The municipality employees are on trial for providing services in the Kurdish, Armenian and Syrian languages other than Turkish. The court prosecutor had demanded prison sentence of 3 years and 6 months for the un-detained defendants on 25 May. The prosecutor applied TCK article 257 on "harming the public by misconduct of duty" and article 222 regarding "acting in contradiction with the hat and Turkish letters" on the grounds of disuniting municipality activities. The case is to be continued on 30 September. Demirbaş commented, "If we are punished or not, it will not change the fact that there are many ethnic identities, many cultures, many beliefs and many languages in Turkey. The government sees itself right and us as criminals. If I spoke Kurdish, this court would have to provide an interpreter. I am accused of allocating sources from the municipality budget".

The İskenderun 2^nd Criminal Court of First Instance tries DTP İskenderun Provincial Chairman Mahmut Aydıncı and Demorkat İskenderun newspaper owner Ersen Korkmaz under charges of "glorifying crime and criminal offenders". Aydıncı is tried because he referred to PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan as "respectable" and Korkmaz because he published Ayındı's words. They appeared before the court on 18 September because of the article entitled "Ending the Imrali Prison and the implementations related to it should be taken seriously for the great contribution it will have for the social peace" published on 18 November 2008. Korkmaz argued, "The current discussions regarding the Kurdish initiative abolish the legal and social basis of this trial". The case was openend on 24 December 2008 and is to be continued on 9 December 2009. The 2 defendants face prison sentence under the application of TCK article 215. Korkmaz is also being tried under article 159 of the former TCK for a news item entitled "The Kurdish leader has been caught and handed over to the fascists"  he had written after following a TKP (Turkish Communist Party) panel. Korkmaz and TKP official Necmettin Salaz face prison sentence of up to 3 years under allegations of "insult and ridiculing of the military and police forces". This case was opened by the former mayor at the Magistrate Law Court. The journalist faces 10,000 TL (€ 4,500) of compensation fines. The next hearing is scheduled for 21 October.

Star newspaper journalist Şamil Tayyar received a 2,610 TL (€ 1,200) monetary fine for charges of "insulting" journalist Güler Kömürcü "via the media" in September. He was also handed down a 1 year 6 months prison sentence by the Istanbul 2^nd Criminal Court of First Instance for "violating the confidentiality of communication and private life". Due to good conduct the sentenced was reduced to 1 year 3 months and postponed of 5 years. Tayyar will be subject to judicial supervision during this time and will have to go to prison if he commits any criminal offence. Kömürcü filed a criminal complaint against Tayyar on the grounds of his articles "Have a nice working day, Mr. Tuğrul" from 12 September 2008 and "To whom Ergenekon is left" issued on 17 September 2008. Apparently, it was mentioned in the article that the telephone conversation between Kömürcü and Turğrul Türkeş, which was not related to the investigation, was included in the indictment. The decision is also important since it qualifies the conversation included into the Ergenekon indictment by the prosecutors as a "violation of private llife".

The Diyarbakır Metropolitan Mayor Osman Baydemir was acquitted by the Diyarbakır 6^th High Criminal Court. Baydemir had been on trial under charges of "spreading propaganda for a terror organization" because of referring to the militant Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) as the "armed Kurdish opposition".

On 17 September, the Istanbul 10^th High Criminal Court prosecutor Savaş Kırbaş demanded prison sentence for Journalist Hakan Tahmaz, Birgün daily manager Bülent Yılmaz and editorial manager İbrahim Çeşmecioğlu for a published interview with Kurdish rebel group PKK's Murat Karayılan. Tahmaz, Yılmaz and Çeşmecioğlu are tried under article 6/2 of the TCK for "publishing PKK announcements" in the interview entitled "Unilateral Ceasefire Amplifies the Problem", published on 9 August 2008. Tahmaz and Çeşmecioğlu face up to 3 years imprionment, Yilmaz a heavy monetary fine. The prosecutor will hold his plead on 17 December. During a four-page interview, it read "Karayılan, who met with Tahmaz in Kandil Mountain [PKK's base] in Northern Iraq, stated that people on streets no longer want to witness violence but they're determined to continue a 'legitimate defense war', in his words." Emphasizing, "they don't want to establish a separate state but react to the denial of the Kurdish solution", Karayılan said that the Democratic Society Party (DTP) is regarded as a spacer but they want to pursue politics as PKK and this isn't in contradiction with the ongoing armed struggle.

In the first and only session of the case on 15 September the Adana 2^nd Criminal Court of First Instance decided to pass sentence of 11 months and 20 days' imprisonment to Sevda Turaçlar from Ekspres newspaper because she published an anecdote about Turkish president Abdullah Gül. The penalty will be executed only if Turaçlar will commit an offence of the same kind within the coming 5 years. Turaçlar said she would not file an appeal against the decision: "We respect the decision of the law. I am working in journalism for 20 years and this is the first time I am experiencing something like this. I received support from all over Turkey. I thank everybody". She explained, "I am working at the newspaper in the technical service department as an IT operator. The anecdote came to me via email and I did not check it before I used it. I had used anecdotes about former president Süleyman Demirel and former Prime Minister Yıldırım Akbulut before. I was not aware of committing a crime".

Milas Önder newspaper journalist and chief editor Kemal Kaşkar is tried before the Milas 2^nd Criminal Court of First Instance in Muğla on the grounds of insulting Prime Minister Erdoğan and president Gül by calling them "dishonest" in an anecdote. Kaşkar faces prison sentence of up to 2 years 8 months under charges of "insult of the prime minister via the media". The case will be continued in November. The Milas Önder newspaper publishes anecdotes sent in by its readers every Saturday. The daily's publishing director Çoşkun Efendioğlu recalled, "This is indeed not a part of our publishing policies and we are careful about it. Even if it slipped our attention, there was no reason to open a trial because of this anecdote. It is actually a nice anecdote. If we should be convicted and would not reach a result at the Court of Appeals, we will apply the European Court of Human Rights", Efendioğlu said.

The case against Sel Publishing owner İrfan Sancı was opened at the Istanbul 2^nd Criminal Court of First Instance on 16 September. Sancı is tried under the allegation of "spreading obscenity" regarding his publishing of the books "The Fairy's Pendulum" by Ben Mila, "The Amorous Exploits of a Young Rakehell" by Guillaume Apollinaire and "Letters of a Well-Mannered and Knowledgeable Bourgeois Women" by French writer P.V. The Istanbul Prosecutor's Office launched an investigation into the Erotic Books series in January 2009, only omitting the "Book of the Cuckoos" written by Juan Manuel de Prada. Sancı faces prison sentence of up to 3 years. He objected to an expert report prepared by Istanbul Commerce University and requested the books to be reviewed by another expert committee. The court decided to have "The amorous exploits of a young rakehell" and "Letters of a well-mannered and knowledgeable bourgeois women" reviewed by experts appointed by a platform from the Galatasaray University Faculty of French Language and Literature and Faculty of Law. As far as "The Fairy's Pendulum" is concerned, it will be reviewed by experts appointed by the Istanbul University Faculty of Turkish Literature. The trial was postponed to 15 December in order to allow time for the new expert reports and the presentation of new evidence. Sancı argued, "When the expert committee of the Commerce University claims that these books are not works of literature, will that negate the status of these internationally read books as works of literature? Will world-famous poem and writer Apollinaire become a writer of pornography?"

The prosecutor of the Istanbul 13th High Criminal Court asked for the acquittal of Adnan Demir, director of Taraf newspaper. Demir is tried for a prison sentence because he spoke of "military neglect" when reporting about the Aktütün police station where 17 soldiers lost their lives in a raid by PKK rebels. The prosecutor evaluated the publishing related to the raid as a part of freedom of the press. Therefore he asked for Demir not to be punished. The journalist is trialed because of "publishing classified documents of the General Staff". In the hearing on15 September the court gave Demir and his lawyer Ergin Cinmen the opportunity to speak up for the journalist's defense. The trial is to be continued on 20 October. Fikret Seçen, Istanbul Public Prosecutor, litigated Demir upon a complaint by the Genral Staff. Seçen demanded a 5 years prison sentence under article 329 of the Turkish Penalty Code (TCK). The publication ban imposed by the General Staff Military Court was related to the news of 14 October 2008 with the headline "We told you to confess about Aktütün... Now we are talking". In the indictment it was reminded that the publication ban was imposed one day later. Reason for the trial were the newspaper's issues dated 14-18, 26 and 28 October, publishing news related to the attack that happened on the evening of 3 Ocotber 2008.

Brigadier General Hıfzı Çubuklu, Legal Advisor of the General Staff, announced on 11 September that a court case has been opened against Journalist Mehmet Baransu from Taraf newspaper because of publishing documents about the "Anti-Reactionary Plan". The "Anti-Reactionary Plan" lays out strategies to defame the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and the religious Fethullah Gülen movement. Journalist Baransu is subject of an investigation by the Kadıköy Public Prosecutor's Office because of his news item about an "Anti-Reactionary Plan" allegedly prepared within the army. Baransu said that if the investigation should be turned into a trial, he is going to present documents to the court which will prove the allegations wrong. Baransu had not obtained any information about a court case being opened against him: "The prosecutor's office carrying out the investigation may have informed the General Staff" Baransu assumed. The journalist said that the file of the investigation conducted on the grounds of article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code (TCK) was sent to the Ankara Ministry of Justice on 12 August.

Another hearing of the trial of the Ardahan 2^nd Criminal Court of First Instance against Fakir Yılmaz, chief editor of the Kuzey Doğu Anadolu (Northeastern Anatolia) newspaper, daily owner Selmi Yılmaz and Son Vialet newspaper chief editor Nihat Yılmaz took place on 9 September. The journalists are tried under charges of ""inciting the public to hatred and hostility" on the ground of their coverage of the provocations experienced in Ardahan before and after the visit of Emine Ayna, co-chair of the Democratic Society Party (DTP) on 28 November 2008. The court postponed the trial to 4 November in order to complete paperwork. In another case, Ardahan judge Dilek Şen and prosecutor Emrah Unal are demanding 40,000 TL (around 18,300 Euros) compensation, claiming that they were insulted in an article entitled "Should I have demanded a change in judge?", published on 14 May 2009. The compensation case will be heard on 30 September. The judge and prosecutor are also taking Selmi and Fakir Yılmaz to criminal court. The journalists are accused of "insulting public officials because of their duty". This case will continue in November. In yet another case, the three journalists are on trial for an article reporting on the visit to the printing press of the father of Orhan Keskin, a revolutionary from Ardahan. The journalists had referred to Orhan Keskin as "the Ardahan revolutionary martyr who died in the Diyarbakır dungeons". The prosecution is accusing the journalists of "inciting the public to hatred and hostility" and "spreading propaganda of an illegal organisation". Fakir Yılmaz also faces a demand for compensation from district governor (Kaymakam) Önder Çan, whom he had criticised for taking a 20-ton bulldozer onto a frozen lake in order to clear the path for a military tent put up as part of a festival. The ice broke and the bulldozer was in danger for sinking. It took dozens of vehicles to finally rescue the bulldozer in the evening. The article reporting on this incident was entitled "Authorities in Ardahan Must Be Mad", making use of the word "Çıldır", which here refers both to the district and to "çıldırmış", "mad". The article was also published in the national Taraf newspaper on 11 January.

A trial against Haber 49 newspaper owner Emrullah Özbey has been opened under allegations of "insult" after publishing a news article entitled "A resignation full of speculations" regarding the resignation of Provincial Secretary General Ahmet Güngör. The first hearing was scheduled for 22 September at the Muş Magistrate Criminal Court. Özbey asked questions about Güngör's resignation to the Muş Governor Erdoğan Bektaş who sent him answers to 15 of his questions. In another case, the Court of Appeals Law Office reduced a fine handed to the journalist from 1,200 TL to 1,000 TL (€ 450) in compensation. Özbey had reported about the "Signature Scandal" on 17 January 2005 concerned with the cancellation of an exam for disabled people with of a forged signature. In the meantime, the State Council decided to appoint the disabled employees to their former jobs. Özbey is going to apply to the European Court of Human Rights.

The Diyarbakır Chief Public Prosecutor's Office decided to drop the case against the parents of M.Ö. and the Diyarbakır Sur district Mayor Abdullah Demirbaş. Ten-years-old girl M.Ö. was under prosecution together with Mayor Abdullah Demirbaş on the grounds of giving Kurdish lessons to other children at home along with the municipality's project "One story to each house" (Kurdish: Sere Şeve Çirokek). The project ''One story each night and turning every house into a place of education" was launched 3 years ago. M.Ö.'s parents previously made a statement at the prosecutor's office that together with Mayor Demirbaş they had turned one room of their home into a class room in the course of the project. After the investigation the prosecutor's office decided to close the case.

On 8 September, the Diyarbakır 6^th High Criminal Court tried former MP of the closed Democratic Party (DEP) Leyla Zana who was convicted because of referring to Celal Talabani, Mesut Barzani and Abdullah Öcalan as the "3 leaders of the Kurds" during the Newroz celebrations in 2007. However, Zana was acquitted of allegations of "spreading propaganda for an illegal organization". Zana was facing a 2 years prison sentence under charges of "praising crime and criminals" because she had said "Being tried because of my thoughts is a shame of the Turkish democracy in my opinion". Zana's lawyer Meral Danış Beştaş announced, "The courts are not a place to spread propaganda, because propaganda involves spreading a certain idea. Besides, the right to defence is universally guaranteed in the Constitution and in international law".

On 8 September, the Aydın Juvenile Court dropped the case of a 13-year-old child who was trialed because of addressing Prime Minister Erdoğan with the curse "God damn you" when Erdoğan visited the city of Aydin (in the southwest of Turkey) before the local elections on 29 March 2009. The child was taken to Erdoğan by his bodyguards and he asked him why he talked to him like that. When M.S.Ö. answered "I do not like you", Erdoğan squeezed the child's throat. 13-year-old M.S.Ö. was convicted of "Publicly defaming a public official connected with the public service he provides". The case was dropped at the first hearing. The court decided in accordance with the child's lawyers' defense that Erdoğan had visited the city of Aydin as chair of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), thus he cannot be considered as a public official in this context. If the case had been continued, the 13-year-old child would have been trialed under article 125 of the Turkish Penal Code (TCK) and could have faced 14 to 28 months imprisonment. M.S.Ö. cursed the prime minister because his father went bankrupt. The child's lawyers filed a criminal complaint against Erdoğan with the allegation of "deliberately hurting people". However, this complaint was dismissed. Lawyer Kemal Aytaç emphasized, "Everybody is protecting the prime minister but what is actually essential is the protection of the child. The indictment had been amended in contrary of the law and the court could accept it. The funny side of the story is that the prime minister himself did not complain".

The Beyoğlu 1^st Magistrate Criminal Court in Istanbul acquitted Labour Youth members Şerafettin Gökdeniz, Sercan Bakır and Ekin Can Kınık. They had been tried under allegations of insulting the prime minister because of organizing an event on 20 May 2008 after they had sent collected signatures to the prime minister in the context of the campaign "Life does not fit into a 3-hour exam". An expert report sent to the court had indicated that no element of crime was constituted by saying "He was born in Istanbul and became an American, murderer Bush's son Tayyip Erdoğan". The 3 young people who had been taken into custody were also acquitted of opposing the Law on Meetings and Demonstrations.

The Istanbul Public Prosecutor's Office has opened a trial against journalist Mehmet Baransu from Taraf newspaper. Baransu is accused of "communicating protocols" regarding an attack of the militant Kurdish Worker's Party (PKK) on the Aktütün police station which resulted in the death of 17 soldiers. The indictment prepared by Public Prosecutor Ercan Şafak on 27 August 2009 includes the following information: Mehmet Baransu's news item entitled "Written Records" published on 13 April 2009 gives information about details such as the time of the attack, departure times of the aircrafts that bombed PKK camps, when the Prime Minister and the Presidency was informed and what time the Chief of General Staff came to the headquarters. 2 months after the publishing of the news the Military Prosecutor's Office filed a criminal complaint against Baransu on 12 June. The complaint accuses Baransu of "disclosing information related to the state's security and political efficacy which should have remained confidential".Baransu's trial will open on 18 November at the Istanbul 14th High Criminal Court. Baransu is facing up to 10 years imprisonment applying article 329/1 of the Turkish Criminal Code (TCK) on the grounds that he "published confidential written records, and information and documents with a classified status that had not been removed or altered".

The Istanbul 11^th High Criminal Court will continue the prosecution of journalist Nedim Şener on 23 October. Şener is the author of the book "The Dink Murder and the Intelligence Lies" about the murder of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, recounting the negligence of police and gendarmerie officers prior to the murder. The journalists faces prison sentence of up to 28 years under charges of "targeting people on duty to fight terrorism, supplying and announcing confidential information and attempting to influence a trial" concerning the contents of Şener's book. At the hearing on 26 June, the Istanbul court accepted the demands of police officers Ramazan Akyürek, Muhittin Zenit and Ali Fuat Yılmazer to become third party plaintiffs. The court agreed that they had been damaged by the alleged "targeting" of the book; the court decreed that they had not been damaged under the other accusations. Şener said, "The complainants might also become defendants in the future. After the report of the Prime Ministry Inspection Board the 2 commissioned property inspectors are carrying out an investigation. These complaints were not made out of institutional but personal concern in order not to become a defendant later on. The murder held political dimensions and objectives. There is no way to clarify this murder without a crime to be committed. I did what was necessary for the public's right to be informed and for the universal human rights". Şener's lawyer Şeyhnaz Yüzer argued, "We do not know which terror organization the complainant is fighting. In case of the Intelligence, Nobody can punish the one who is doing his duty. The European Court of Human Rights caselaw must be considered".

Former Democratic Society Party (DTP) deputy chair Orhan Miroğlu received a 2 years 4 months prison sentence for saying "The PKK is reality in Turkey, Turkey has to face this truth. Do not search beyond the boarder" during the 2007 Newroz festival. The Ankara 11^th High Criminal Court claimed "spreading propaganda for an illegal organization" in its decision taken in August. The file was forwarded to the Court of Appeals. Taraf newspaper journalist Miroğlu is tried under article 301 the Turkish Criminal Code ("Insulting the Turkish People, Republic of Turkey and Governmental Institutions and Bodies") for his article entitled "Single Soldiers" published on 12 December 2007. In the article Miroğlu criticised a picture and article published by Sabah newspaper showing "single Turkish soldiers side by side with Kurdish women dressed in traditional clothes". The Ministry of Justice approved the trial against Miroğlu. He gave a statement upon instruction before the Kadıköy (Istanbul) Criminal Court of First Instance. Based on the news entitled "Border Rangers Remain Single", Miroğlu claimed that in the past women were kept in police stations for months for sexual abuse. He also brought the S.A. case to the agenda, in which Turkey was convicted by the European Court of Human Rights.

Artist Ferhat Tunç is being sued with "insult and ridiculing of the judiciary" on the grounds of his article entitled "A revolutionary Leyla and a song" published by Yeniden Özgür Gündem newspaper on 19 January 2004. The article mentioned the term of "abstruse judiciary". The Beyoğlu (Istanbul) 2^nd Criminal Court of First Instance demands prison sentence for Tunç and the then editor-in-chief Mehmet Çolak who currently lives abroad. In a separate case, Tunç is tried for a statement in his concert in Antalya/Alanya on 22 July 2006, saying, "Just as deceased soldiers are regarded as children of this country, each guerrilla that was killed is a child of this country too".  The İzmir 10^th High Criminal Court acquitted Tunç of charges concerning "spreading propaganda for an illegal organization". However, the prosecutor objected the decision and the file was forwarded to the Court of Appeals. Also here Tunç said, "Just as deceased soldiers are regarded as children of this country, each guerrilla that was killed is a child of this country too. My heart is burning for every soldier that died; my heart is bleeding for every guerrilla that was killed.

Ergenekon defendant retired Brigadier General Veli Küçük opened a trial against Lawyer Erdal Doğan because of Doğan's statements made on the Turkish news channels NTV, Habertürk and STV on the day of the assassination of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink on 19 January 2007. Retired Brigadier General Küçük claims 10,000 TL (€ 4,500) in compensation. Previously, the trial had been dropped because the complainant's lawyers did not attend the hearing without giving an excuse for their absence. However, the case was reopened with additional initiatives at the Beyoğlu (Istanbul) 1^st Criminal Court of First Instance. Doğan claimed that Veli Küçük had requested to be accepted as joint plaintiff in a lawsuit against Doğan's former client Hrant Dink who was tried under article 301 of the Turkish Criminal Code. Doğan recalled, "Veli Küçük submitted a hand-written motion to become a party of the suit. Hrant told his family, close friends and me that he felt ever more anxious after this incident. Because Veli Küçük is not just an arbitrary, ordinary person. Everybody knows that well". The case is to be continued on 5 November.

The trial against pro-Islamic Vakit newspaper on the grounds of the column headed "The country in which people who cannot become corporals become generals" signed by Asım Yenihaber was continued before the Ankara 20^th Criminal Court of First Instance on 30 July. Vakit newspaper faces a compensation claim of 624,000 TL (€ 284,000). The court assessed that newspaper lawyer Hacı Ali Özan had said that there were 5 people prosecuted in the context of the Ergenekon case among the 312 generals that filed the complaint. Furhtermore, Özan allegedly claimed that Şener Eruygur, one of the 5 Ergenekon defendants, opened lawsuits against Vakit newspaper in order to put it out of business. Lawyer Özan argued, "For this reason we request to open a trial against the complainants. I demand to listen to Şener Eruygur and Hurşit Tolon myself". Court president Adem Albayrak rejected the demand as it did "not comply with the procedures and the law". The case was postponed to 3 November. Newspaper owner Nuri Aykon and supposed author of the news item Mehmet Doğan are tried by 312 generals, among them 4 former commanding officers, under allegations of "insult". The complainants claim that the article was written by former RTÜK member Mehmet Doğan.

Speaking on satellite channel Roj TV, Ethem Açıkalın, president of the Human Rights Association (İHD) in Adana, southern Turkey, criticised the arrest and punishment of children taking part in demonstrations. He was investigated for "spreading PKK propaganda", but is now on trial for "inciting hatred and hostility." On 29 November 2008, Açıkalın gave information about the legal situation of the children concerned and criticised their trial. His court case will begin on 27 October at the Adana 1st Criminal Court of First Instance. He had criticised the words of Adana governor İlhan Atış, who had threatened to withdraw health care support for the parents of children taking part in protests. In addition, Açıkalin had spoken of a "dirty war." He said that all he did was share is thoughts on an urgent issue. So far 84 children, seven of them arrested, have been sentenced to 382 years and 11 months imprisonment in Adana. The human rights activists is already on trial for allegedly resistign the police when protesting against a police raid at the province headquarters of the Democratic Society Party (DTP).

Taraf newspaper publishing director and journalist Ahmet Altan is on trial before the Kadıköy (Istanbul) 2^nd Criminal Court of First Instance for his article "Büyükanıt was also targeted", published on 28 March 2008. Yaşar Büyükanıt is the former Chief of General Staff. Journalist Altan stands accused for "violating secrecy" and the "attempt to influence a fair trial". More than 100 trials are pending against Ahmet Altan, Yasemin Çongar, Nevzat Çiçek, Mehmet Baransu, Bahar Kılıçgedik, Başar Arslan, Sibel Hürtaş, Adnan Keskin and Adnan Demir, most of them in the context of the Ergenekon investigation, under charges such as "violating the secrecy of an investigation", "attempting to influence a fair trial" and "influencing the judiciary". After the Ergenekon investigation was launched in June 2007, more than 200 cases have been opened under the same charges to media institutions belonging to the Doğan Group.

The Istanbul 12^th High Criminal Court prosecutes Günlük newspaper journalist Veysi Sarısözen and concessionaire Ziya Çiçekçi under allegations of "spreading propaganda for the PKK organization". Sarısözen and Çiçekçi face up to 7years 6 months prison sentence applying article 7/2 of the Anti-Terrorsim Law on the grounds of the article entitled "It is not us spreading propaganda but the people", published on 6 February 2009. The court converted Çiçekçi's sentence into a fine of 20,000 TL (€ 9,000) and informed the journalist that the case would be dropped if he paid the fine within 10 days. Otherwise, the trial would be continued. In the following hearing on 26 October Sarısözen is going to give his statement. The daily's periodic publishing status will also be investigated.

On 28 July, the Diyabakır 4^th High Criminal Court sentenced Kurdish politician Leyla Zana to 1 year and 3 months imprisonment for allegedly spreading PKK propaganda in a speech made at a seminar at London's SOAS University on 24 May 2008. In her speech, she had likened the PKK and its imprisoned leader Abdullah Öcalan's importance to the Kurdish people to the importance the brain and heart have to humans. "They have created a new life for the Kurdish people, so that a people that used to be ashamed of its existence gained a spirit of freedom and resistance." The former MP for the Democracy Party (DEP) was tried under Article 7/2 of the Anti-Terrorism Law and the prosecution demanded 5 years imprisonment. The police had monitored recordings on the Kurdish satellite channel Roj TV and had filed a criminal complaint against her. There are more than 10 trials pending against Zana. She is furthermore prosecuted for her utterances regarding the European Parliament's "4^th International EU, Turkey and the Kurds" conference published in Akşam newspaper on 4 December 2007 under the title of "Zana: Öcalan's role is of crucial importance". Additionally, the Diyarbakır 5^th High Criminal Court tries Zana for her statement "If a hand is reached out to the Kurds for brotherhood, peace will be sustained on a stronger basis. If we do not reach out, the Kurds will always fight. I call Erdoğan to visit the Kurdish cities one by one, to reach out for peace in İmralı. This is the wish of the people".

The Silivri 1^st Criminal Court of First Instance has been trying Hakan Taştan and Turan Topal for the last 3 years under charges of "inciting hatred and hostility", "humiliating the Turkish people" and "collecting data contrary to the law". The case is postponed till 15 September. The court decided to expand the investigation because of "spreading Protestantism" and ruled to take the statements of 2 employees of the Istanbul and Beyoğlu judiciary to "witness the missionary's widespread presence in the judiciary". The case was initiated upon a warning issued for Christians in Silivri (northern coast of the Sea of Marmara) saying, "The missionaries tried to establish an organization at the local schools and wanted to turn them into sacred places. Speeches were made that humiliated 'Turkishness', the military service and Islam". Among the accusations against members of the Turkish Protestant Church in Taksim (Istanbul) are allegations such as "conduction missionary activities by distributing books and CDs regarding the bible and Christianity to the mostly student complainants free of charge". The Ministry of Justice approved the prosecution of Taştan and Topal under article 301 of the TCK.

DİHA news agency journalists Sertaç Kayar and Yunus Tosun were taken into custody after covering a protest action in the Beyoğlu district of Istanbul and are now being tried for the reason of participating in the protest action. Both journalists were released by the prosecutor's office on 20 October 2008. Now they are facing punishment under charges of "using flammable materials during an illegal demonstration and damaging public property" at the Istanbul 10^th High Criminal Court. Kayar and Tosun stated that they were taken into custody while they followed the event as reporters and that all news materials were confiscated. Both journalists claimed that they did not want their statements to account as their defence and rejected the claims against them. The trial is to be continued on 1 October. According to the police, they watched a group throwing a Molotov cocktail at construction machinery at a building site in Dolaperdere, Beyoğlu. The group supposedly escaped and DİHA trainee Tosun and journalist Kayarı fell behind. They were taken into custody together with their photography and video cameras and gas masks.

Kurdish politician Mahmut Alınak faces prison sentence for writing a letter in Kurdish to Prime Minister Erdoğan saying "You deceive the people from Kars". Alınak previously received an 11 months 20 days prison sentence and has to plant 500 pine trees. He appeared before the Kars 2^nd Criminal Court of First Instance on 23 July for criticizing Erdoğan in his Kurdish letter. Alınak is tried un-detained and faces prison sentence of up to 2 years. He said in his defence, "In my letter I wrote that the Prime Minister and the [ruling] Justice and Development Party deceived the people and that they look at Kars as a colony. I do not understand how these words constitute an insult. This means that we must not voice any criticism. So we have to walk around with our mouths sealed. What kind of freedom of thought is this, when the term "deception" constitutes a crime. It seems the only place where we can be free in this country is in prison", Alınak said. The court launched an investigation into the defendant's records.

The Şişli (Istanbul) 2^nd Criminal Court of First Instance tries former Alınteri magazine editor-in-chief Sakine Yalçın for of calling former Justice Minister Hikmet Sami Türk a "murderer". Yalçın will come to court once more on 4 November because of the news item entitled "No to cell type living" published on 1 February 2002. The journalist received a 884 TL fine in the first trial and applied to court of Appeals. Yalçın was arrested in 2006 when she picked up her passport. She paid her fine in order to be released but her case is still pending. Yalçın is tried before the Şişli 2^nd Criminal Court of First Instance under article 159 of the Turkish Criminal Code on the grounds of her article "The continuity of the coup" published on 16 July 2003. Yalçin mentioned "soldiers smearing excrements to hundreds of villagers and raping women" and called the Turkish National Assembly "a stable". The Ministry of Justice did not approve the journalist's prosecution due to the amendments regarding article 301. Yalçin announced that she is still a defendant under article 159 of the former TCK and that she received a suspended prison sentence. The file was forwarded to the Court of Appeals. Yalçın was convicted of "insulting the army" and received a 620 TL administrative fine for her article "The class against the class" published on 17 October 2003. Yalçın appealed against this decision too.

Diyarbakır Mayor of the Sur district Abdullah Demirtaş was prosecuted for his expressions voiced at a commemoration ceremony for PKK member Burhan Bahtiyar. Finally, Demirtaş was acquitted. He was tired under charges of "spreading propaganda for an illegal organization" because of the following words: "The colour of the eyes might be different, but the tears of a mother of a guerrilla and the mother of a soldier are the same. We are grateful to the ones who gave their lives for the struggle for freedom".

The Diyarbakır 2^nd High Criminal Court prosecutes former Bar Association President Sezgin Tanrıkulu and lawyer Nesip Yıldırım over "praising crime" allegations because of writing the 2007 agenda both in the Turkish and Kurdish language. Yıldırım put forward his defence on 15 May: "This is my legal right. My mother tongue is Kurdish. This allegation is contrary to the human rights". The prosecutor claimed that both the lawyer during his public duty and also the Bar Association violated the principle that "the state's language is Turkish" by presenting the agenda to the public in any other language than Turkish. Furthermore, the prosecutor accused Tanrıkulu of "misconduct of duty" because of he made use of letters other than included in the Turkish alphabet. Yıldırım is tried on the grounds of the petition entitled "I stick by my bar and my agenda" which he submitted after the publication that targeted a local journalist. The case is to be continued on 2 October.

AKP Adana MP Dengir Mir Mehmet Fırat and Hürriyet newspaper are prosecuted over a 50,000 TL (€ 22,700) compensation claim filed by Ankara Metropolitan Mayor Melih Gökçek at the Ankara 10^th Criminal Court of First Instance. The court decided to consult the Turkish Language Society in order to clarify the official and colloquial meaning of the term "slut", used in a news item issued on 19 December 2008. In a petition presented to the court MP Frıat questioned, "How can it be confirmed that this statement was made in a negative meaning?" Gökçek on the other hand wrote in his petition: "The word slut means a slightly temperamental women of easy virtue with exaggerated make-up. The TDK Turkish Dictionary defines the term "slut" as women with an exaggerated and vulgar style in clothes and make-up. Upon seeing the women Dengir cursed and constituted a crime". Hürriyet newspaper explained that "slut" Was the name for a special dessert from Şanlıurfa in south-eastern Anatolia and published the according recipe.

The Adıyaman Criminal Court of First Instance will launch the prosecution of journalist Naif Karabatak in November. The journalist is on trial because she criticized the university ban for women wearing headscarves following an according amendment of the constitution. The Adıyaman Magristrate Criminal Court entered an order of nolle prosequi for Karabatak's case on 22 April. The journalist is tried upon a complaint filed by Adıyaman University Rector Prof. Dr. Mustafa Gündüz because of her article entitled "Where are the prosecutors" published on 28 February 2008. Karabatak stands accused for "insult via the media". Finally, Gündüz's lawyer presented a petition to the court, stating that his lawyer refrained from the compensation claim. Thus, only the criminal case is to be continued. Journalist Karabatak made her statement at the prosecutor's office on 10 March 2008. She defended the acceptance of "girls wearing headscarves" to universities. The journalist argued that Gündüz might have been upset abut the style of the article. However, Karabatak indicated that this style was nothing personal but a matter of attitude.

Afyonkarahisar Ermirdağ newspaper responsible manager Mustafa Koyuncu faces up to 6 years imprisonment and a 440,000 TL (€ 200,000) compensation claim. Koyuncu accused the Police Directorate of prostitution, assault and insult in his news item entitled "Should we have entered the EU like this? They are abusing their duty" published on 12 March 2007. 4 witnesses confirmed the journalist's allegations before the Emirdağ Criminal Court of First Instance. The case is to be continued in October. Koyuncu was taken into custody on 13 March 2007 under charges of "insult via the media" and released 1 week later upon the condition of publishing a dementi.

The Istanbul 9^th High Criminal Court prosecutes Alternatif newspaper owner Cevat Düşün and publishing director Ragıp Zarakolu under allegations of "spreading propaganda of a terror organization", "praising crime and a criminal" and "alienating the public from military service". The case was opened on 23 September 2008 on the grounds of the following articles published on 16 and 17 August: publishing the article "I reject becoming a Turkish soldier" written by conscientious objector Mehmet Ali Avcı; referring to the militant Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) as 'an organization fighting for the freedom of the Kurdish people' and to PKK imprisoned leader Abdullah Öcalan as 'leader of the Kurdish people' in an article entitled "The first bullet should be discussed"; publishing the news "Fireworks celebrations everywhere" in the context of celebrations in the South-East on 15 August and publishing the article "If the politics do not provide a solution, the Kurds will turn their faces to the mountains" referring to a speech made by a Democratic Society Party (DTP) MP in Ağrı.

Taraf newspaper lawyer Ergin Cinmen announced that more than 100 cases have been opened against the daily, mostly under charges of "violating the secrecy of an investigation" and "attempting to influence a fair trial". Cinmen said, "No trial has yielded any results yet, but there is an incredible work load. If the cases result in convictions and they will be brought to the ECHR, Turkey will be convicted". Cinmen indicated that local courts do not take article 26 of the TCK into account which foresees that "people doing their duty cannot be punished". By continuously not applying this article to journalists, Turkey will soon join the category of countries that systematically violate freedom of thought and will be convicted by the ECHR, Cinmen argued.

The Istanbul Public Prosecutor's Office launched a trial against Milliyet newspaper journalist Namık Durukan for the article "Even in case of a general amnesty we will not put our weapons down", reporting about a release made by militant Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) executive Duran Kalkan to Fırat News Agency (ANF). In the revised indictment from 30 July responsible manager Hasan Çakkalkurt was also included into the trial. Both journalists face a 7 years 6 months prison sentence each under allegations of "spreading propaganda for a terror organization". Furthermore, the prosecutor demands to deprive Durukan and Çakkalkurt of several civil rights like "the right to vote and be elected". Durukan is tried for reporting about Kalkan's announcement and Çakkalkurt is sued for publishing it. The trial started on 12 August in the absence of both defendants. The Istanbul 10^th High Criminal Court will start the prosecution on 10 November. Kalkan is tried on the legal grounds of the article's contents. He wrote, "The Kurdish question is not such a general question of amnesty. The Kurdish people do not consider the PKK and the guerrilla to be in a situation for such an amnesty. If a general amnesty would be issued including Apo (Öcalan), then the PKK would not put down its weapons for good but could think about a ceasefire, but the guerrilla does not put down its weapons". During recent years, many journalists were convicted of reporting about the PKK, among them Sebati Karakurt, Hasan Kılıç and Necdet Tatlıcan from Hürriyet newspaper and Ülkede Özgür Gündem newspaper journalists Cengiz Kapmaz, Hasan Bayar and Ali Gürbüz. Azadiya Welat newspaper former responsible manager Vedat Kurşun is in prison since January 2009 under allegations of "spreading propaganda for an illegal organization".

Ethem Açıkalın, president of the Human Rights Association (İHD) in Adana, had previously been accused of being connected to the militant Kurdistan Workers' Party PKK, the Marxist Leninist Communist Party (MLKP) and DHKPC (Party and Revolutionary Front for the Liberation of the Turkish People). He has already been on trial eight times for "spreading PKK propaganda", "resistance against the police" and "inciting hatred and hostility". In the course of a demonstration on Chidren's Day this April in Hakkari in the south-east of Turkey a riot police officer ran after a 17-year-old child, caught up with him and brutally beat is head and upper body with his rifle butt. Açıkalın had organized a protest in Adana against this incident. Now he is accused of "opposing the law of meetings and demonstrations." Açıkalın is charged with "violation of the law against illegal demonstrations, organizing demonstrations and participating in demonstrations" according to articles 6/2, 23/d and 28/1 of law no. 2911. His trial is scheduled for 2 November at the 8^th Criminal Court of First Instance.

Nur Bilgen, chair of the Institute for Forensic Medicine 3rd Specialization Chamber, announced on 2 September that she filed a lawsuit against Prof. Dr. Şebnem Korur Fincancı, board chair of the Turkish Human Rights Foundation (TİHV) and Barış Yarkadaş, chief editor of "Gerçek Gündem.com" ('real agenda') website. The trial against Fincancı and Yarkadaş will start at the Kadıköy (Istanbul) 2^nd Criminal Court of First Instance on 15 January 2010 under charges of "insulting a public authority". Both defendants are facing a 2 years 6 months prison sentence. Birgen has been frequently criticized by the media because of her medical reports. In one of her reports she suggested to relaease detained Ergenekon defendants from detention. In another report she spoke out negatively about detainees in F-type prisons suffering from Wernicke Korskoff syndrom. 22 July 2009 journalist Başak Günsever of Gerçek Gündem.com broadcasted the interview with Fincancı, which allegedly insulted her. In the inteview Prof. Fincancı was asked whether there is a change of staff in line with the change of power in the Forensic Medicine. Fincancı answered that Birgen obtained her position as a result of her loyalty. She said that there have been heavy and important changes in the line-up of the Forensic Medicine Institute, and that this was  especially the case under the direction of Mehmet Ağar. When asked how Birgen obtained her current position, Fincancı replied: "It probably was a reward for her loyalty! There are investigations about reports made by the Medical Chamber Honor Council concerning torture because evidence of torture had been hidden. Those reports probably gained her positive points on her record." Birgen was criticized by several rights organizations for her reports. In 1995 Birgen prepared a report about 7 people that had been tortured, stating the lack of evidence for torture. As a consequence the Medical Chamber suspended her from office.

'Friday in Turkey' magazine journalist Abdurrahman Dilipak and 6 newspaper correspondents will finally appear before the court after their case has been pending for more than 5 years. They are tried because of the articles "If the pasha does not listen to reason", "Undisciplined Pashas" and "The essential condition for the military is not secularism, it is patriotism", published between 29 August and 3 September 2003. The case will start at the Bakırköy (Istanbul) 2^nd Criminal Court of First Instance on 11 February 2010 with defendants Mustafa Karahasanoğlu, general publishing coordinator, responsible manager Cengiz Almış and newspaper staff Mustafa Hacımustafaoğulları, Hüseyin Arı, Yalçın Turgut and Abdurrahman Şeref Kazan. The defendants were initially sued at the Kolordu Command Military Court under article 95/4 of the Military Criminal Code (ACK) on "harming inferiority-seniority relations". Due to amendments of the ACK, the file was brought to the Bağcılar Criminal Court of First Instance and from there transferred to the Bakırköy court. This time, Dilipak was waiting for the Bakırköy 2^nd and 17^th Criminal Court of First Instance to reach a mutual agreement. The indictment demands prison sentence between 6 months and 3 years for the defendants.

On 1 September, the Bakırköy (Istanbul) Public Prosecutor's Office opened a trial by the reason of the article "2 interesting schemata of the police" published by Milliyet newspaper on 9 February. The article deals with Nedim Şener's book "The Dink Murder and the Lies of the Intelligence". Journalist Şener is tried in 2 different cases on the grounds of his book and faced up to 28 years imprisonment, which increased to a total of 32 years 6 months including the latest case. The prison sentence demanded for triggerman suspect Ogün Samast amounts to less than 20 years. The Police Directorate gave notice on 13 February after the newspaper had published a schema of telephone communication traffic between defendants of the Hrant Dink murder case and the Ergenekon case. Şener is tried under Turkish Criminal Code article 285 on "violating secrecy via the press". The next hearing is scheduled for 22 December at the Bakırköy 2^nd Criminal Court of First Instance".

The case against publisher Ragıp Zarakolu and writer N. Mehmet Güler commenced on 13 August at the Istanbul 10^th High Criminal Court. Both un-detained defendants are facing prison sentences based on article 7/2 of the Anti-Terror Law (TMY) because characters of the book are called "Sıti", "Sabri" and "Şiyar". They are tried under charges of "spreading propaganda for the PKK organization" because of the book "More difficult decisions than death" ('Ölümden Zor Kararlar') published by Belge Publishing in March this year. Zarakolu stated that the pressure "has come as far as prosecuting the heroes of a novel". The publisher said to bianet, "This trial is like a present for my 40^th year in journalism. I have been prosecuted in more than 50 trials up to the present. But I will not be able to break the record of old master Çetin Altan". Zarakolu and Güler will prepare their defences until 19 November. Istanbul Public Prosecutor Hikmet Usta based his indictment of 22 May on dialogues in the novel such as on page 39 in the context of a trial against a PKK member, quoted as follows: "This court delegation has no right to judge me. I fight for freedom. I do not recognize this court". The court president's warning "Do not disrespect the court delegation!" and similar passages of the novel are further subject to the indictment. The prosecutor refers to 10 pages of the novel, claiming that the life stories of the PKK members evoke sympathy for the organization and that propaganda is spread that way.

On 6 August 5 representatives of Günlük newpaper were informed that during the previous months the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor had opened a case against them under charges of "spreading PKK propaganda" on the basis of news articles, columns and photographs. The newspaper was banned for 1 months because of articles and photographs published in the issues of 1 and 2 June 2009. After imposing the publishing ban the Chief Prosecutor's Office launched 2 trials against publishing director Filiz Kocali and concessionaire Ziya Çiçekçi. The separate indictments prepared on 1 July claim Koçali's and Çiçekçi's prosecution under article 7/2 of the Anti-Terrorism Law (TMY). One of the cases was opened because of the article "Magnificent Final" about the Diyarbakır 9^th Culture and Art Festival published on 1 June 2009. The reason was a picture of imprisoned leader of the militant Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) Abdullah Öcalan entitled "This people will realize their dream". The second case filed by İlimoğlu the defendants are accused of propaganda for an illegal organization due to articles published on 2 June entitled "Military Operations must be called to an end" by Hüseyin Ali and "PKK, PeKeKe or PeKaKa?" Regarding the article "Military Operations must be called to an end" the prosecutor highlighted the following passages: "The duration of the clashes lasted till 15 July despite heavy pressure on the Kurdish Freedom Movement military operations and on democratic institutions". "The Guerrilla actually emerged from not resolving the Kurdish question". "If there would not be this struggle the Kurdish people paid such a high price for, it would not have been possible to talk about the existence of the Kurds even, let alone discussing the Kurdish question" and "The Guerrilla will not change their position if sustained and irreversible steps are not being taken". A second case has been launched against editor Yüksel Genç on the grounds of his interview with Nelson Mandela lawyer Essa Moosa and because of the article "This is one of the results of the elections" written by author Veysi Sarısözen. He stands accused for spreading PKK propaganda by having compared Öcalan to Mandela in the context of the above mentioned interview published on 13 April 2009 under the title "The government did not reply to my report". The journalist is tried together with concessionaire Çiçekçi before the Istanbul 11^th High Criminal Court. The corresponding indictment also comprises Delil Karakoça's article "Obama seen from where I stand" published on 10 April 2009 and an article entitled "YDG-M members commemorated Dağ and Karaoğlan" from the issue dated 13 April 2009. Both defendants are facing prison sentence. Moreover, writer Veysi Sarısözen will be sued for his demand to release Öcalan, voiced in his article "This is one of the results of the elections" published on 10 April 2009.

On 31 July, the Bursa 2nd Children's Court sentenced 17-year-old O.K. to "insulting a civil servant on duty", i.e. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, fur using the slogan "Your are a lightbulb, Tayyip" in reference to the PM's party's emblem of a lightbulb, as well as the slogan "First religious, then liberal, selling education". O.K. had been with other students and teachers protesting against the central university exam (ÖSS) and the government's education policies. Because of his age, the Bursa 4th Criminal Court of Peace separated his case from that of the others on 20 August 2008 and sent it to the children's court. O.K. has now been sentenced to carrying out work for the public good for 3 months and 26 days. He was first sentenced to 7 months and 23 days imprisonment, but because of his age, lack of previous convictions and the fact that he worked with computers and design, he was sentenced to working for a institution serving the public. The court evaluated the slogans recorded by the police as a crime. O.K.'s lawyer Fırat Gündoğan said that they appealed against the sentence the same day. "We hope to get a positive result at the Supreme Court of Appeals. Otherwise, there may be hundreds of court cases against protesters in Bursa on Labour Day or other demonstrations. The trend seems that way, which is worrying."

The Kadıköy (Istanbul) 2^nd Criminal Court of First Instance tries Taraf newspaper journalist Soner Arıkanoğlu under charges of "defamation" (Turkish Criminal Code TCK 267), "attempt to influence a fair trial" (TCK 288) and "violation of secrecy" (TCK 285). Arıkanoğlu is on trial by reason of his news item claiming that CDs and the building plan of the Court of Appeals had been found during the search of the Workers Party (İP) Headquarters carried out on 21 March in the context of the Ergenekon operation. The article also said that a part the indictment for closing the ruling Justice and Development party, namely the paragraph concerned with president Abdullah Gül, was found in the search. Apparently, president of the Judges and Prosecutors Union (YARSAV) had given it to İP. The journalist was arrested on 27 March due to the news articles entitled "Suspicious floor plan of the Court of Appeals at İP" and "They were going to attack the Court of Appeals" published on 24 March. He was released later on. Lately, a second lawsuit has been filed against Arıkanoğlu under the same allegations.

Kurdish Azadiya Welat newspaper publishing director Tayip Temel was sentenced to 1 year imprisonment under allegations of "inciting hatred and hostility" based on a speech Temel had made regarding the anniversary of the murder of Özgür Gündem newspaper journalist Kemal Kılıç. Lawyer Servet Özen objected the decision in the beginning of August. On 21 July the Şanlıurfa 2^nd Criminal Court of First Instance sentenced Temel for his commemoration speech made in Kurdish where he said, "Our friend Kemal Kılıç became a martyr while he was doing his duty. The forces that killed him must be interrogated and called to account. Hundreds of people in Kurdistan have been murdered or lost by those dark forces". Temel, who demanded punishment for unsolved murder cases, was convicted in a time when the government organized workshops in several sections of society in the context of the "Kurdish initiative", when imprisoned Abdullah Öcalan, leader of the militant Kurdistan Workers' Party, is considered as a negotiation partner, when advice is received on defending the core understanding of freedom of thought. The charge of "inciting hatred and hostility" was reasoned by Temel's use of the terms "martyr", "Kurdistan" and "call to account".

Democratic Society Party (DTP) Şeyhmuz Seyhan was sentenced to 8 months imprisonment by the Izmir 4th Magistrate Criminal Court on 30 July. He was convicted under the Political Party Law (SPY) for explaining his objectives in Kurdish prior to the local elections on 29 March. The court reduced Seyhan's penalty to 5 months due to "good conduct" and "lack of prior convicitons" and suspened the sentence for 5 years. Seyhan commented, "They cannot deter us by convicting us. To the contrary, they are whipping us by punishing us. We will not abandon our just struggle. We will continue speakin in our own language, whatever the price will be". Seyhan added, "I am a Kurd, 90 percent of the crowd around me in Gaziemer was Kurdish. I explained our projects and the services we were going to provide in Kurdish because most of the people did not know Turkish. This was the natural thing to do. I am living in a contradictory country. I found out that of all languages only Kurdish is forbidden". Seyhan and Democratic Society Party (DTP) Karabağlar mayor candidate Cemal Çoşgun are on trial at the Izmir 6th Magistrate Criminal Court. They are facing prison sentence. The case was continued on 15 July and postponed to 3 November.

The Court of Appeals 4^th Law Office overruled the decision regarding a 20,000 TL (€ 9,000) monetary fine in compensation that had been imposed on Gaziantep Sabah newspaper publishing director Nurgün Balcıoğlu. Balcıoğlu had received the sentence on the basis of her criticism on retired judge Zekeriya Dilsizoğlu's saying: "In 9000 out of 10,000 murder cases women are involved". The initial decision had been taken on 9 June whereas the journalist was notified not earlier than 30 July. The Court of Appeals was directed by the criticism of the Bakırköy (Istanbul) 8^th Criminal Court of First instance claiming that the case should be rejected on the merits. On 13 May 2008, a local court partially accepted the compensation claim of originally 100,000 TL (€ 45,000) and imposed a fine of 20,000 TL to Balcıoğlu and responsible manager of the daily Fethullah Kapkapçı. The Court of Appeals reasoned, "The right to criticism must be accepted for the writers regarding the complainant's scientifically unproven subjective views and the generalizing announcements that offended women. The defendants are not to be hold responsible for a monetary compensation fine since the fact mentioned in the article were not allegedly contrary. The defendant voiced criticism within legal boundaries". On 15 February 2007, Balcıoğlu had written an article entitled "Is this judge that judge?", in which she had criticised the judge as a misogynist, giving as an example the fact that an advertisement of his brother's death did not include either name of the deceased's two wives.

The Court of Appeals 9^th Criminal Office unanimously approved the acquittal of freelance journalist Rahmi Yıldırım. He was on trial for an article entitled "The job for the qualified person, the sword for the person girding it", published on the Internet site sansursuz.com on 23 January 2005. Tried under Article 159 of the old Turkish Penal Code for "insulting and deriding the military", his initial trial began on 17 March 2005. The Criminal Office had taken the decision in March and notified Yıldırım in the middle of July. In the decision it was said, "According to the collected evidence and the courts opinion lead by its conscience, elements of crime were not constituted. Thus it was decided to reject the Public Prosecutor's objection and to approve the decision. Yıldırım commented that the decision significantly alleviated the ban of criticism as one of Turkey's deepest rooted taboos. The trial was initiated by a criminal complaint filed by İlker Başbuğ, then Deputy Chief of General Staff and now Chief of Staff. On 24 October 2005, the Ankara 12th Criminal Court of First Instance acquitted the journalist for the article, which spoke of "the pashas who are undaunted defenders of Atatürk's principles and reforms, the protectors of the capitalist order, ordinary conscripts, actors and extras."

The Şarköy (province of Tekirdag in Thrace) Criminal Court of First Instance Prosecutor Hüseyin Koçasaln has demanded ten years imprisonment for journalist Yakup Önal of the local "Şarköy'ün Sesi" ("The Voice of Şarköy") newspaper for insulting mayor Can Gürsoy of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) and two municipal council members, Olcay Yücel and Ercan Yücel. Önal had written an article entitled "Fairy tales for adults- Pinocchio and the nine dwarves". The journalist and his lawyer are working on a reply to the latest expert report which claimed, "Even if it is a fairy tale, the existence of the mentioned problems must be proven. The journalist is tried under charges of "insult". On 20 July 2005, Önal had started a series, one of the referring articles started as follows: "Once upon a time, in a country there was a president called Pinocchio living by the sea in a place called Şarki. Pinocchio had 9 dwarves that would approve any of his decisions like a suction pump".

In the middle of July, the Van 2nd Criminal Court of First Instance handed down a 1 year 6 months prison sentence to DİHA journalists Ercan Öksüz and Oktay Candemir on the grounds of "referring to hatred and hostility" in the interview entitled "Witnesses of the Zilan Massacre spoke" from September 2007. By suspending the sentence for 5 years, the defendants cannot file an appeal. Öksüz pointed out that he also is the grandfather of one of the victims of the massacre. "Just like Musa Anter, I am a vicitm, a defendant and a witness in this case", Öksüz said. The journalists had reported about the testimony of 94-year-old Kakil Erdem, who witnessed the massacre that took place in the neighbourhood of Zilan Deresi in Van in 1939. It was said in the article that Erdem was 17 years old at the time and that he was the only witness still alive. Quoting the witness, the article reported about severe torture imposed to the people during the massacre.

The High Criminal Court of Batman in eastern Turkey continues the prosecution of 6 journalists on the basis of publishing related to the death of Mizgin Özbek. The 11-year-old girl was killed when security forces opened gunfire to the car she was in. The court tries owner of Batman Postası ('Batman Post'), Batman Barış ('Peace') and Batman Visyon ('Vision') newspapers Mustafa Kemal Çekik, Visyon newspaper responsible manager Aytekin Dal, Barış newspaper responsible manager Mehmet Sadık Aksoy, Çağdaş ('Contemporary') newspaper responsible manager Mehmet Reşat Yiğiz and Batman Petrol newspaper journalists Mustafa Seven and Nedim Arslan. Applying article 301 of the Turkish Criminal Code (TCK) the defedants stand accused of "humiliating military forces". The file has been sent to the Ministry of Justice. Finally, the Ministry requested the acquisition of the latest version of the file from the prosecutor. The journalists were acquitted of allegations of "attempting to influence a fair trial. On the grounds of the reports they prepared, Batman Bar Association President Sedat Özevin and Association of Human Rights and Solidarity for Oppressed Peoples (MAZLUMDER) Branch President Ahmet Sevim were acquitted on 16 September 2008. The Ministry had not approved their prosecution under article 301 of the TCK.

On 14 July, Dursun Çiçek, Colonel of the Naval Staff, filed a criminal complaint against Taraf newspaper journalist Mehmet Baransu and newspaper executives because of the journalist's claim that Çiçek's signature is on one of the documents of the "Anti-Reactionary Plan". The criminal complaint also concerns Star newspaper journalist Bünyamin Demirkan and newspaper staff on allegations of "forgery of the document, publishing a counterfeit document and violating a decision of confidentiality". The "Anti-Reactionary Plan" lays out strategies to defame the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and the religious Fethullah Gülen movement. Journalist Baransu was the first journalist to report about the plan on 12 June. The Military Prosecutor's Office evaluated the document as follows: "It is not a document but a photocopy. It was not prepared at the General Staff. The ordinary courts should investigate". After this, Chief of General Staff İlker Başbuğ referred to the document as a "scrap of paper". Naval Colonel Çiçek had been taken into custody after his statement at the Istanbul Prosecutor's office and was released 18 hours later. 2 weeks after his release, Çiçek filed a complaint about 2 newspaper executives at the Ankara Prosecutor's Office. Çiçek demanded punishment for journalist Demirkan and newspaper officials on allegations of "violating the secrecy of an investigation", "influencing the judiciary" and "actual criminations in contrary to the law" because of the news article entitled "Code name XX in the junta" and "Colonel Dursun Çiçek was asked about the junta allegations from the e-mail".

The Malatya 3^rd High Criminal Court sentenced Dicle News Agency (DİHA) journalist Rüştü Dermirkaya to imprisonment of 1 year, 10 months and 15 days under charges of "spreading propaganda for the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) organization. Demirkaya was convicted on the base of reporting about clashes to the Kurdish television station Roj TV via the phone. The decision was taken on 18 March, whereas the journalist was notified in the beginning of July. The court expounded that Roj TV is "obviously" a publishing organ of the illegal PKK organization. The court referred to 9 telephone connections between 16 June 2004 and 23 April 2007 in which PKK members were described as "HPG (People's Defence Forces, armed wing of the PKK) guerrilla" and which contained statements that "suggested that there is a war between 2 states". The court stated that "it was understood that organizational propaganda was spread many times", taking into account all conversation records of the journalists who are accused of revealing military officials as targets". The court did not see the need to postpone or convert the sentence.

On 13 July, the Court of Appeals 9^th Criminal Office overruled a local court's decision regarding the case of a drunk person who said "f... you and the state". The defendant had been acquitted by the local, reasoning that "there was no specific intend of insulting and ridiculing". The Criminal Office demanded to punish the defendant under allegations of "publicly humiliating the republic". The Court of Appeals decided unanimously to prosecute the defendant under article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code (TCK) and demanded a prison sentence of up to 3 years. According to the decision made on 30 June 2009, "The decision for acquittal reasoned in writing that 'the certain intend of insulting and ridiculing was not given' had to be overruled. We agree that the crime of publicly insulting the republic has been constituted and object the incident where the Turkish Republic was subject to wordings harassing the state". As reported by the news, the defendant was involved in an argument in a hotel in Şile on the Black Sea coast north-east of Istanbul. When he was about to being beaten, he cursed his opponent as well as the state. The hotel personnel called the police as the argument continued and were reminded of the defendant's criminal record.

Kuzey Publishing owner Erol Karaaslan, who gained from the translated version of Richard Dawkins' book "The God Delusion", was acquitted by the Şişli (Istanbul) 2^nd Criminal Court of First Instance on 7 July. The book deals with the evolutionary theory. On 19 June, the prosecution demanded to reject the complaint of Sonya Eskinazi, who argued that the book insulted Judaism, Allah and the prophets. Karaaslan faced a possible prison sentence, accused of "inciting the public to hatred and hostility or denigration". The prosecutor said that Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights also included the freedom of religion and conscience. He added, "In order for science to progress, we accept that every issue has to be approaced critically and with a questioning mind; otherwise, the whole of society is held hostage by dogmas." Publisher Karaaslan had previously acquitted in a case filed by a person named Emre Bukağılı.

A trial against 22 football fans has been launched at the Bursa 1^st Magistrate Criminal Court. The football fans stand accused for "insulting" Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan because of criticizing him during the football match Bursaspor-Tokaspor concerning the construction place of a new stadium. The football fans are tried under charges of "insulting a public official due to his duty" and face prison sentence of up to 2 years each. They reject the allegations. Yeni Bursa newspaper reported on 3 July that Prime Minister Erdoğan, who is expected to join the case as plaintiff, and officials of the Bursa governor's office did not attend the hearing. Only the municipality lawyer came to court. 14 un-detained defendants appeared at the hearing. The football fans put forward that they were "cursing and cheering" at the match on 18 January 2009. 19-year-old supporter M.A. said in his defence, "I was watching the game in the stadium. I heard the slogans from the stands. But I did not curse anybody. Does anybody curse the party he voted for? I am innocent". Football fan R.K. claimed, "The most important thing for us is the benefit of Bursaspor. On the stands, we expressed our disagreement with the Prime Minister's announcement regarding the location of the new stadium. By no means did I insult anybody". The other defendants will give their statements in the coming hearings.

A trial against 54 mayors of the Democratic Society Party (DTP) was launched on 1 July at the Diyarbakır 5^th High Criminal Court. The group of mayors is tried under allegations of "praising crime" on the grounds of their statement that they expected a satisfying announcement regarding claims that Abdullah Öçalan, imprisoned leader of the militant Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) had been poisoned in prison. The 54 mayors had made a declaration concerning the Hrant Dink murder, assassination lists and the poisoning claim of Öcalan in order "ease tensions". Diyabakır Metropolitan Mayor Osman Baydemir read the declaration made on 4 February 2007 once more before the court and asked, "Where is the crime within this?" The mayors are tried under article 215 of the Turkish Penal Code and each face prison sentence of up to 2 years. Mayor Baydemir stated that the indictment lacks a legal base. He argued that due to the "chaotic situation" of the country 2 years ago, the parties did not have representative groups in the parliament. According to Baydemir, this was the reason for the 54 mayors to share their common views with the public and to "show a democratic reflex for a peaceful effort. Our opinions might not correspond with the government's actual politics. The public benefited from our declaration". The hearing was postponed due to a power cut in the court house.

I turned out that İşçi Mücadelesi ('Worker's Struggle') newspaper and editorial director Şiar Rişvanoğlu were acquitted on 26 May. The newspaper and its employee had been tried under allegations of "praising crime and criminals" by reason of an article entitled "The Kurdish people is on its feet... Listen to what they say", published in November 2008. On 30 April 2009, the Adana 6^th High Criminal Court opened a case against lawyer Rişvanoğlu, who had campaigned for Adana Municipality Mayor in the elections on 29 March. He stood accused for praising criminals on the base of writing: "children who protest on the streets upon the directions of PKK" and "shouting unlawful slogans in favour of a terror organization, harming public officials and public and personal proprety". In the first hearing, the prosecutor had demanded punishment based on "spreading propaganda for an illegal organization", which would have involved a higher penalty.

Corrections and Legal Redress

Assoc. Dr. Yaman Akdeniz from the Istanbul Bilgi University Faculty of Law objected to the access bans of myspace.com and lastfm.com.tr on 29 September. The Press Bureau of the Beyoğlu (Istanbul) Public Prosecutor's Office decreed to block access to both internet sites with decision no. 2009/45 taken on 26 June 2009. A lawyer applied on behalf of Akdeniz to the Press Bureau of the Beyoğlu Public Prosecutor's Office with the request to forward the demand to the Beyoğlu Magistrate Criminal Court.

On 16 September, the birthday of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink who was killed 2 years ago, the International Hrant Dink Foundation (UHDV) awarded journalists Alper Görmüş from Turkey and Amira Hass from Israel. The award was given to Görmüş and Hass for "inspiring people and sparking hopes for the long-winding road of struggle by obliterating discrimination, racism and violence, taking efforts for a world with more freedom and justice, taking personal risks to achieve these ideals, eliminating oppression and speaking the language of peace".

The Siirt High Criminal Court decided to keep the 4 defendants accused of assaulting and severely injuring Siirt Birlik newspaper journalists Diya Yarayan in detention on 13 August. The court postponed the case to 24 September to hear the final speech of the prosecution. All 4 defendants were sent back to the Siirt Closed Prison. Reporters without Borders (RSF) condemned the attack which happened in the evening of 17 February 2009, "Local authorities in Turkey do not hesitate to assault journalists with critical views. It is out of the question to accept these frequent attacks against journalists. We are calling the officials, the elected representatives who are held responsible for the attacks or the public officers to follow things up more closely and punish accordingly". RSF drew attention to journalists Diya Yarayan, Hacı Boğatekin and Durmuş Tuna who all were subjects to severe assaults in recent times. The reporters' organization declared to make an example of the attacks and to carry out investigations on the essential matter to deter the people who are targeting freedom of thought and to file lawsuits against them.

Of the twelve people alleged to have been involved in the attack on Durmuş Tuna, owner of the local Söke Gerçek newspaper in the Söke district of Aydın province, six have been arrested. On 28 July, twelve people had been taken into custody, accused of seriously injuring the journalist. Of nine people questioned in the Söke 2nd Criminal Court of Peace on 29 July, three were released and six arrested. Suspects S.K., S.Y., L.Y., S.D., R.Y. and İ.Ç. were taken to prison. Tuna, however, says that only those who had been used to attack him had been arrested, but that he had heard a person shouting during the attack, "Hit him in the head, kill him." The Turkey Journalists Society (TGC) has supported Tuna in his call for the instigators to be found and prosecuted.

Cumhurriyet newspaper lawywer Tora Pekin applied to the Istanbul Regional Administration Court to pave the way for prosecution of Gökhan Özsavaş, head of the Istanbul riot police, who is held responsible for violent attacks against workers on 1 May 2008. Newspaper lawyer Pekin wrote a petition on 1 July to object the Istanbul Mayor's decision not to initiate an investigation about Özsavaş. Cumhuriyet newspaper reporters Ali Deniz Uslu and Esra Açıkgöz were two of four people attacked by police officers during Labour Day 2008. In his objection, lawyer Pekin said, "The chief for whom permission to investigate him is not being given is the superior of the civil servants who carried out these inhumane attacks and who "cannot" be identified. He is with no doubt responsible for the criminal acts." Pekin told bianet that if domestic law did not result in a prosecution, they would take the case to the European Court of Human Rights.

Reactions to Censorship

Doğan Media Group joint attorney Nurcan Çalışkan cirticized the fact that local courts frequently apply article 231 of the Turkish Criminal Procedural Code (CMK) to cases concerning the media. Article 231 foresees the "postponement of the enforcement of a sentence". Çalışkan made the following objections: "The decision cannot be appealed to. A journalist or responsible manager of a newspaper is inhibited to resume his or her profession for the duration of five years. This is a scary duration for a journalist. The courts announce application of article 231as if it was made in favour of the defendant. Moreover, the courts both announce the sentence and can say 'the enforcement is being postponed' at the same time", Çalışkan argued.

The Istanbul 14^th High Criminal Court had the 29^th issue of Demokratik Açılım newspaper confiscated by the reason of "praising an illegal organization" based on the news item entitled "Buried on the day of the religious festival". The article dealt with the funeral of Aliye Timur, member of the militant Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). The court banned the newspaper for 1 month applying article 6/last paragraph of the Turkish Criminal Code, claiming that the contents of issue no. 29 from 22 September 2009 constituted crimes. The court accused Demokratic Açılım newspaper of PKK membership, praising the organization and spreading propaganda for it. The court stated that the Public Prosecutor's Office has launched an investigation into newspaper owner and responsible manager Ziya Çiçekçi.

In this year's  Musa Anter Reward for Journalism, Volkan Eser from Taraf Newspaper was awarded in the category for Turkish news for his article "Strange Police Test: Do you have scars from stones?". Elif Görgü and Meral Peker from Ervrensel Newspaper came third for their article "Alevi Initiative from TSK". The jury did not find suitable candidates for the second and third rank in the Kurdish category. So they will give a Special Jury Award to Gün TV. The television station broadcasts in Diyarbakır and is awarded for standing up to the pressure they receive because of broadcasting in Kurdish. In the category of Turkish news journalist Mehmet Karbaş from the Batman Post Newspaper is awarded the first price for his article "Mass Grave on the Helkis Mountain" as well as journalist Hikmet Erden from the Dicle ('Tigris') News Agency (DİHA) for his article "Yaşar Kemal and Celal Talabani translated into unknown languages".

The Bakırköy Public Prosecutor's Office initiated an investigation into Turkish singer and actress Hülyar Avşar and Milliyet newspaper journalist Devrim Sevimay. Both women stand accused for "inciting the public to hatred and hostility" by their evaluation of the "Kurdish Initiative" reflected in an interview Sevimay conducted with Avşar. The actress argued, "This is the greatest insult I have ever experienced in my whole life. This is not an opening, this is a closure. I talked about this topic thinking that we were living in a democratic country. I usually understand right away what I read, but this time I could not believe it. How can this be? If I am accused by the prosecutor of insults such as hatred and hostility and of openly provoking the public to enmity just because I expressed my own views as a Turkish artist, then no-one should speak of issues such as the Kurdish initiative", Avşar stated. Also bianet protested the investigation, writing that "We are protesting this investigation. If this conversation is a crime, we are "guilty" of the same crime and by publishing the interview of the Milliyet Newspaper's website we surrender to Ali Çakır for our "crime". The International Press Institute National Committee criticized, "These comments, which are widely discussed in the daily agenda, cannot be considered a crime.The mentality that considers this a crime is a problematic mentality. We urge the authorities to remove all obstacles preventing freedom of press". The investigation resulted in the dismissal of proceedings.

On 19 September, access was blocked in Turkey to MySpace and Last FM, two of the world's largest websites for socializing. The decision to ban both sites was a result of a court case filed by the Association of Interconnected Ownership Right Phonogram Producers (MÜYAP). The Beyoğlu Prosecutor's Office took the decision on 26 June. Assoc. Prof. Dr. Yaman Akdeniz, faculty member of the Bilgi University Law Faculty, criticized the decision: "Even considering an application against pirated and illegal broadcasts, in general banning access to an internet site is a means that is left over from the era of dinosors... It is an ineffective, extreme and exaggerated procedure". Reporters without Borders announced, "Freedom of expression cannot be obstructed by copyright". The internet site sansuresansur.org called its users to show a reaction to the ban. Musician Aylin Aslım wrote on her facebook site: "Blocking access to myspace.com is serious injustice to independent musicians in Turkey. We do not want to be forced to return to music channels and record companies with their filthy politics. We want our music to be available freely to everybody who wants to listen to it". Users who wanted to access the sites in the past days had to read the following announcement: "Access has been blocked to this site due to a court decision. Access is denied by decision no. 2009/45 of the Turkish Republic Beyoğlu Public Prosecutor's Office, dated 26.06.2009." The decision to ban access to Myspace, Last FM and Akıllı TV was taken by the Public Prosecutor's Office of Beyoğlu, a centrally located district of Istanbul. It was not authorized by the Supreme Council Telecommunication. Access to youtube.com has been blocked since 5 May 2008 on the grounds of "contents contrary to Atatürk".

The prosecutors dealing with the investigation into the clandestine Ergenekon terror organization added some documents to the file of the second indictment which, according to Cumhuriyet newspaper, reveal that the newspaper's empoyees "were wiretapped improperly and illegally". According to allegations published on 16 September, the entire contents of the telephone conversations made on duty by reporters Fırat Kozok and İlhan Taşçı have been put into the file. The newspaper announced to have noticed that also Cumhuriyet correspondant Mustafa Balbay has been wiretapped. Balbay is currently detained in connection with the Eregenekon case. Turkey Journalists Association (TGC) chairman Orhan Erinç said that the telephone tapping of the journalist's office and the central office of the newspaper means "ignorance of freedom of the press and of freedom of expression". According to the statement, the file includes contents of communications concerning journalist Balbay. Furthermore, it includes the transcript of a conversation between reporter Fırat Kozok and a member of the Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTÜK) and a transcript of a conversation recorded a few weeks before the local elections on 29 March between journalist İlhan Taşçı and Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu from the Republican People's Party (CHP), then candidate for the head position of the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality.

The Doğan Media Group, Turkey's largest media group, has to pay € 1.7 billion (TL 3.75 billion) worth of penalty and tax cut imposed by the Turkish Finance Ministry. The International Press Institute (IPI) voiced its concern about the decision on 8 September. IPI emphasized that this "massive fine" raises concerns about press freedom in Turkey. A Turkish media corporation which preferred to remain unnamed argued that the fine means "political oppression of the media and the attempt to silence critical voices". IPI declared, "Although IPI is not in the posisiton to comment the given fine, this year's recent incidents show that the prime minister started an oral war with the media. IPI is concerned that the review was rather a political and personal account then a tax review regarding the media group's financial conditions. A heavy fine had been imposed on the Doğan Media Group after reviews of the joint ventures Doğan TV Holding, D Yapım, Doğan Production and Alp Visual Communications in 2005, 2006 and 2007.  In a statement given to the IPI Secretary in Vienna, IPI President of Turkey Ferai Tınç said, "A fine of an amount that exceeds the media group's corporate value cannot be accepted. This means seizure of the media group and destroying it". According to Doğan, the fine consists of TL 1.88 billion origianal tax claims, TL 1.88 billion as loss tax penalty, TL 60,000 irregularity fine and TL 282,000 special irregularity fine. The Turkish Journalists Society ciritcized, "The ECHR emphasizes in many decisions that the limits of the media to criticize the governemt are very extendable. Such intolerance for criticism of the political power in our country does not correspond with a democratic conept". Contemporary Journalists Association President Ahmet Abakay told bianet: "This is part of the government's attempt to tranquilize the Doğan Media Group and to bring their contents more in line with the government. In my opinion, this is dangerous in terms of freedom of the press and freedom of expression".

The Ankara Governor's Office did not permit a "Guard of Conscience" kept by Freedom and Solidarity Party (ÖDP) opposite of the Gülhane Military Medical Academy (GATA) where putschist Kenan Evren undergoes medical treatment. Preceeding the guard, ÖDP members installed a banner saying "29 years since 12 September - Putchists will be taken to account". With the "Guard of Conscience" ÖDP intended to point out that the demand for justice related to the military coup on 12 September 1980 still continues. Families of people who got killed and torture victims from the time around 12 September were going to participate in the guard. ÖDP Ankara Provincial Chairman Cevat Özdemir claimed that the interdiction did not correspond to democracy: "Applications like the provisional abolishment of article 15 of the constitution during the current discussion of the democratic initiative shows how sincere the [ruling] Justice and Development Party (AKP) really is". The Governor's Office declared that the stand was not allowed to be opened based on article 11/c of the "Provincial Administration Law". The regulation prescribes, "Peace and security within the borders of the province, individual immunity, spending related to security, the provision of the public well-being and preventive police authority is entrusted to the duty of the governor". The Governor's office stated that the banner opposed article 301 of the Turkish Criminal Code and that its exhibiting constituted an "opposition to the Law of Misconduct".

Gün TV broadcast director Diren Keser commented RTÜK's initiative for Kurdish broadcasts saying, "It is a positive step, but it comes late". The initiative paves the way to 24-hours broadcasts of private radio and television corporations in languages other than Turkish such asTRT Şeş (TRT 6) broadcasting in Kurdish. Keser from Gün TV, a Kurdish television channel broadcasting in the region of Diyarbakır, argued that he had presented his demand for broadcasting in his mother tounge to RTÜK on request of the District Office on 3 September. On 5 January 2004, the Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTÜK) issued the "Regulations about Radio and Television Broadcasts in Different Languages and Dialects Traditionally Used in the Daily Life of Turkish Citizens" which allow for 1 hour per day of radio broadcast, maximum 5 hours per week, respectively 45 minutes of daily TV broadcast not exceeding 4 hours per week. Radio programs can be published only under the obligation of publishing the same program in a subtitled version on TV right after the original broadcast. The media institutions have to inform RTÜK in advance about the contents of the program, the format and who prepared it. The regulation does not allow local media organs to broadcast any kind of children's programs in their mother tongue.

The Press Institute Association-IPI National Committee reacted to legal actions against Milliyet newspaper journalist Nedim Şener and Vakit newspaper journalist Abdurrahman Dilipak. Şener faces 4.5 years imprisonment in yet another trial opened against him. Dilipak is forced to sell his house due to compensation claims imposed on him.  The committee pointed out that the trial against Şener conflicts with article 19 of the Universal Declartation of Human Rights: "We invite the people in charge to fulfil their duty and correct this situation for the sake of press freedom". The Bakırköy Prosecution launched a trial against Şener on the grounds of his article "Two interesting schemes from the police" published in Milliyet newspaper on 9 February 2009. Şener was accused of "violating secrecy". Refering to Dilipak the organization emphasized, "Sentences for insult via the media should not reach dimensions that intend to get rid of writers, they should not reach the point where housing must be sold because of confiscation". The Press Institute Association criticized that Dilipak sold his house on the Asian side of Istanbul by way of execution. The journalist had been sentenced to a compensation fine by reason of an article he wrote about deceased former Naval Forces Commander Admiral Güven Erkaya. The article entitled "I do not give up my rights" was published in June 2000. Dilipak was forced to sell his house in order to meet a TL 167,000 (approx. € 76,000) compensation claim. Dilipak ciritcized, "Both a compensation trial and a criminal case were launched upon the article. The criminal case was dropped because the statue of limitation ran out. The compensation case was tried in my absence because my address could not be found out. The case depends on the decision. They reached me after the time of appealing had expired. The confiscation of my house was unlawful. The penalty is a huge threat and an intervention against press feedom".

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) firmly condemned the one-month bans that Istanbul courts have imposed on two newspapers that defend the rights of Turkey's Kurds - the daily Günlük and the weekly Özgür Ortam - for allegedly promoting the cause of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). "We urge the Turkish courts to lift these bans and to stop harassing news media that cover Kurdish issues from an independent or activist standpoint," RSF criticized that the bans have come at a time when the Turkish government claims to be seeking a peaceful solution to the Kurdish identity issue, a source of separatist violence for the past 25 years. "Freedom of opinion is fundamental in a democracy and only incitement of violence or hatred should be prosecuted. Turkish society has a right to independent and diverse news media. The Turkish government's current efforts to tackle the Kurdish issue should also include freedom of expression."

The Turkish daily newspaper Günlük has been banned for one month because of articles and news items written by linguist Prof. Dr. Amir Hassanpour, faculty member of the Department for Near East and Middle East Civilizations of Toronto University. The Istanbul 13^th Heavy Penal Court took the decision on 31 August on the grounds of article 7/2 in the Anti-Terrorism Law, claiming that Hassanpour's articles contained "organizational propaganda". Publication director Filiz Koçali criticized the decision of the ban which came 1 day after the government's announcement in the National Security Council to carry on with the democratic initiative: "We cannot talk of the 'process of a democratic initiative' when Kurds cannot speak up. The article subject to the ban has been written by internationally reknown and reputable professor Hassanpour and was previously published in international magazines and newspapers. With this decision Turkey at the same time censors an internationally reknown linguist". Democrtatic Society Party condemned the decision as well.

An art group calling itself "errorists"devised the online project "qwx-dilini çıkart" as a reaction to the ban of the Kurdish letters q, w and x. They encourage also visitors to the website to react to the ban. Each member took a picture of him/herself with their tongues stuck out and posted it in the gallery of the site, starting from 24 August. On their website, qwx2009.org, the organisers of the campaign say: "Sticking out your tongue deforms the submissive and pleasing expression power and authority expects to see. The face that sticks out its tongue disrespects power and authority by breaking codes of communication that are accepted socially. It provides the demonised other with the means to adopt an image attributed to him/herself and to re-signify it in a way that makes visible its internal other."

The Prime Ministerial Board for Broadcasts/Publications Harmful to the Underaged has decided that the book "Third Class Woman" (Üçüncü Sınıf Kadın") written by Anıl Alacaoğlu cannot be sold to under-18-year-olds and cannot be advertised. The book, so the author in a statement on 11 August, is about "the loves, sexual experiences, separations, discrimination and problems experienced by a transsexual from childhood into their twenties." Alacaoğlu said that the ban on the book was "a result of the mentality that presumes that children cannot be homosexual or transsexual.This can only be explained with homophobia and transphobia. I expected some negative reactions towards the book, but the notification we received made me worried about the outdated restrictions the book faces."

Owner of the monthly issued Bitlis Bulletin and broadcasting director of local Radio 13 İlhan Karabulut said that people were delighted about the speech of President Abdullah Gül made during his vistit to Bitlis and about his mentioning of Güroymak, the former name of the district. As a Kurd born in Bitlis and raised in Istanbul, Karabulut said that he broadcasts Kurdish songs in his radio programs, even though "we do not play political songs in order not to take a risk". Karabulut appreciates the fact that obstacles for broadcasting in Kurdish on television and radio have been removed. "We restrict ourselves in the radio programs. The radio host does not speak in Kurdish on air. But we would like that. It would be nice if the host could speak two or three hours per day in Kurdish. When people find a part of themselves they feel close to it. Because, when they hear Kurdish songs and talking, they get the original and they are happy".

Writer Temel Demirer, convicted for a speech made during the Munzur festival and tried on the grounds of a speech he made after the murder of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, received support from Argentina and Greece. A group of 51 people declared their solidarity for Demirer. The group consists of many left-wing MPs on Argentina's federal and state level, executives of the May Square Mothers organization, unionists, representatives of the movement of the unemployed (piqueteros), faculty members, socialist parties PO, PTS, MST, PCR, representatives of the Autodeterminacion y Libertad Jorge Altamira, Luis Zamora, Patricia Walsh, Liliana Parada, Jorge Cardelli and Laura Ginsberg. From Greece Demirer is supported by the National Confederation of public workers, the Teachers Union, Paper and Print Workers Union, several union executives and left-wing intellectuals such as Savas Mihail-Matsas and Katerina Matsa. Demirer was convicted to 5 months imprisonment by the Malatya 3^rd High Criminal Court under allegations of "praising" Ökkeş Karaoğlu, member of the Maoist Communist Party/People's Liberation Army, in a speech made in Tunceli.

Melek Ulagay from the Justice for Children group claimed, "As the first step of the government's Kurdish initiative children detained under the scope of the Turkish Criminal Code (TCK) must be released". Ulugay said that the problem of children becoming victims of the TCK is entwined with the Kurdish question and that the matter cannot be assessed as a children problem only. Ulugay argued, "Children and young people mean the future. The government's Kurdish initiative affects today's generation just as much as the coming ones. Therefore, by detaining these children in prison we impose an embargo on their futures". According to data from the Ministry of Justice, a total of 1,572 children were tried in 2006 and 2007 on the grounds of terror crimes punished by the TCK or the Anti-Terror Law (TMY). 92 children out of 174 were convicted in Diyarbakır. Ulugay stated, "This is the reason why the government has to take care of this matter as a part of the initiative".

Southeastern Journalists Association Chairman Faruk Balıkçı said that the government's messages regarding the "Kurdish initiative" sparked hopes and created contentment. Balıkçı emphasized the importance of channels for free politics: "All obstacles for politics must be removed; education in the mother tongue must be recognized as an important part of cultural rights. The recognition of the right to education in their mother tongue and to express themselves freely is crucial to the Kurdish people". The association chairman furthermore demanded to stop the pressure imposed on journalist in the east and southeast of the country who report about the Kurdish question. He gave the case of DHA journalist Emin Bal as an example who is tried for "not notifying the police of slogans" when he followed up news in Beytüşşebap.

Vakit newspaper journalist İsmail Uğur was expelled by security staff from a press conference held by Ali Suat Ertosun, member of the Judges and Prosecutors High Council (HSYK) and the Court of Appeals. In the press conference, Ertosun was going to answer questions regarding a defendant from the Ergenekon case and about the "Return to Life" operation. Ertosun had Uğur removed from the room after the journalist had asked "Do you prefere to have lunch with young judges and Ergenekon defendants?" Later on, Ertosun apologized for his reaction, saying, "I am not against freedom of press. Do not hold me responsible for this incident. The sensivity stems from warnings about terror actions we received".

Nedim Şener, author of the book "The Dink Murder and the Intelligence Lies", and Rıza Türmen, former ECHR judge and writer of law articles for Milliyet newspaper, were awarded the 2009 Press Freedom Award of the Turkish Journalists Society (TGC) on the occasion of the 101. Anniversary of the First Abolition of Censorship. TGC Chairman Orhan Erinç reminded the fact that censorship has persisted in Turkey for many years: "Censorship is a problem on the agenda of our profession since we cannot ignore it considering the implementation auto-censorship based on political, economic and ideological reasons on one hand and on limitations ordered by the law on the other hand". Erinç pointed out that recently imposed internet access bans are nothing else but a turn to censorship. The society's chairman indicated, "TGC puts considerable effort into the amendment of laws regarding legal obstructions to the people's right to be informed. In this context TGC organizes seminars for journalists initiating the implementation of our professional principles". Şener emphasized that freedom of speech is being violated right along with the country turning into a society of fear. The author explained why ordinary news about a rise or the competition of 2 politicians are reprimanded: "The enforced Press Law is strict anyways. The current political rulers do not remove the obstacles regarding journalists to be tried under the TMY or the TCK; with power stemming from the legislative and the executive they create a society of fear and are most significantly supported by newspapers and television stations in line with them". Türmen said, "The fact that I received this award shows that I did my profession well. As a new journalist who just recently picked up the profession this fuels my efforts. I was busy with theory only for many years, now I am facing practice. I understand now that freedom of the press actually is a part of the journalist's life itself, it is an essential area".

The Journalists Union of Turkey (TGS) declared that the need for the struggle against auto-censorship is more urgent than ever since it serves the implementations of the legally strengthened political power to eliminate media bosses by censorship. TGS announced, "Arrest warrants were issued and hundreds of investigations and trials were launched related to journalists and intellectuals who struggle against censorship, resist against political pressure and are brave enough to use their right to criticism. This threatens the future of a democratic society". The union stressed the reasons for the decisions taken by the European Court of Human Rights, "Every sort of opinion should be assessed in the context of press freedom and freedom of expression, however staggering and shocking it may be - as long as it does not imply a call for violence".

Friends of Infantry Private Bahdır Han Solak were taken into custody on 15 July for displaying a banner saying "Our martyrs come from the poor" at the funeral of the soldier. Solak had been killed by ammunition which exploded accidentally in Yükselova in the provice of Hakkari. When the coffin was taken into the hearse, the soldier's friends displayed the banner with the slogan "The road to Yemen is made from dirt, the mess kit is made from copper, he mariner shoud pay the price, our martyrs are made from the poor". The funeral was held at the Yusuf Ziya Third Mosque in the Maltepe District of Istanbul. 2 of Solak's friends were arrested by the police.

R.Şevket Yılmaz is detained in the Kocaeli No. 1 F Type Prison on the grounds of contents of the humorous political Sarlo magazine which allegedly humiliate the Prime Minister and praise terrorist organizations. Yılmaz stated in his defence that he did not include the contents the accusations are based on into the magazine's July issue himself. In an announcement regarding the incident from 15 July, the magazine's editorial board said: "This shows that the isolation politics imposed on political prisoners is being continued systematically". Yılmaz writes in his letter that the magazine was banned for "humiliating the Prime Minister of the Turkish Republic" because of the heading "Pump Recep" and for "publishing statements that praise an illegal terror organization" in the section entitled "Red Kurd". The statute regarding the Penalty Enforcement Boards Administration and the Penalty Security Precautions Enforcement has been quoted as a reason for the decision. Additionally, the verdict was based on the fact that Institutions for the Execution of Punishment, Detention Centers Libraries and Library Regulations "do not accept any publication that endangers the institution's security, furthermore obscene news, writings or photographs and comments determined as compromising the institution". The cover of the issue in question shows İlker Başbuğ who referred to the coup plans as a "scrap of paper".

The Association of European Journalists (AEJ) called the TRT management to end applications like the pressure imposed on the Media and Communication Workers Union (Haber-Sen) management. AEJ explained that members of Haber-Sen working for TRT were put under pressure for "their demand that TRT should provide independent and unbiased public service". AEJ announced that Haber-Sen members working at TRT were exposed to discrimination. A number of executives were deposed from office by the TRT administration and investigation have been launched into their activities. According to AEJ, Osman Köse, member of the Haber-Sen Central Executive Committee and journalist at TRT, was deposed from office for the duration of the investigation launched about him. The G9 Journalists Platform demanded to cancel all investigations launched into TRT employees who are union members and to avoid a political struggle in a public media institution. Otherwise, the "independant and unbiased" character of TRT defined by article 133 of the constitution and by the TRT statute merely remains for the record. TRT has always been under control of the government that appoints the president of the steering board and the chief executive officer".

The Diyarbakır 1st Criminal Court of Peace confiscated the 8 July 2009 issue of the Azadiya Welat newspaper because it reported the claims of a 23-year-old woman who said she had been raped by men claiming to be police officers. The news item used the Dicle News Agency (DİHA) as a source, saying that the woman was a member of the Democratic Free Women's Movement (DÖKH). The newspaper also cited representatives from the Human Rights Association (İHD), which said that four more women had made the same complaint within the last week. Following a complaint by the Diyarbakır Police and the demand of the Diyarbakır Chief Public Prosecution, Judge Dursun Karaman decreed the confiscation of the paper. Around 1,000 copies of the issue were collected by evening. The daily newspaper, which publishes in Kurdish, said in an article on page 1 and 7 of the issue, entitled "New State Policy in Diyarbakır: Rape": "On 30 June, Mustafa Sağlam was transferred to Diyarbakır as Chief of Police. Since then, dozens of women have become victims of rape by police and have applied to the Human Rights Association." The judge decreed that the article did not reflect the truth, was made up of lies, and incited hatred and hostility. Ozan Kılınç, license holder of the newspaper, said that a criminal complaint regarding the claim of rape was made to the Diyarbakır Chief Public Prosecution on 8 July, that the prosecution had accepted the complaint and spoken to the victim.

European Court of Human Rights

The European Court of Human Rights requested additionl information and documents regarding Siirt Mücadele newspaper owner Cumhur Kılıçoğlu. He was convicted to compensation payments under charges of "insuling" Dean Cemal Ergun Çelik on the grounds of articles pointing out problems in the Dicle University Siirt Faculty of Education. The Siirt Criminal Court of First Instance ordered Kılıçoğlu to pay TL 3,200 (€1,455) in compensation by the reason of 4 articles.

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) celebrated its 50^th year after its foundation in 1959. The ECHR gave an overview about the cases tried before the European court between 1959 and 1 January 2009 and announced a "pride report" for Turkish courts. Since 1 January 2009 the court has 97,300 application files to deal with. Half of these cases are concerned with complaints from Turkey, Russia and Romania. Applications from Turkey account for 11.4 percent of all ECHR cases. 47 countries with a total population of 800 million people are members of the European Council. Within this group only Turkey fulfills a ratio of 11,300 complaints out of a population of 70 million people. The ECHR accepted 45,000 cases between 1955 and 1998. After 8,400 applications were filed for the year 1999, the number of cases increased to 49,900 last year. During the last 50 years the ECHR took decisions on behalf of 47 countries. 1,953 of these cases were related to Italy, 1,939 to Turkey, 740 to France and 643 cases were related to Russia. Turkey became a member of the European Human Rights Convention in 1954. 1,676 out of 1939 cases brought to ECHR by Turkey were concerned with violations of the Convention. Only 37 files were decided against the accusation of violation. A total of 11,085 petitions were decided not to be accepted. Out of a total of 1,939 decisions related to violation, 1,676 cases were decided to violate at least one article of the Convention. 204 cases were resolved amicably or with a similar kind of solution. Only 37 cases turned out not to have violated any article of the Convention. This situation points out the "dramatic" situation regarding trials in Turkey. This is also confirmed by a number of 2,725 decisions related to a violation of the "right to a fair trial". 147 out of 417 cases related to "inhumane treatment" concerned cases form Turkey as well as 66 out of 146 decisions that were made upon "violating the right to live". With 170 cases Turkey made up for half of the 348 cases related to violating freedom of expression. One fifth of all decisions related to the violation of the right to a fair trial also go on the account of Turkey (531 out of 2,725). Out of a total of 48 cases concerned with torture in custody, prison and locations of detention, 22 cases come from Turkey.

Cumhuriyet newspaper journalist Alper Turgut applied to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) since domestic remedies have been exhausted. The journalist had been sentenced under charges of article 19 of the Press Law and "influencing the judiciary" because of his reporting about unlawful application of the statute of limitation for torture. The police officers charged with torture in detention in the context of an operation against the "October" organization were released of all charges whereas Turgut, who reported about the torture, was sentenced to a fine of TL 20,000 (€ 9,000) for "influencing the judiciary".

Newspaper lawyer Tora Pekin appealed the decision of the Istanbul 2^nd Criminal Court of First Instance from 9 September at the Court of Appeals 7^th Criminal Chamber and later on at the Istanbul 6^th High Criminal Court, both objections were declined. On 22 January 2009, the High Criminal Court reached the conclusion that "the decision of Istanbul 2^nd Criminal Court of First Instance was taken in accordance with the law and the relevant proceedings. The court sentenced journalist Pekin to a fine of TL 20,000 (€ 9,000) for his article entitled "Acquittal for torture" published on 18 October 2004 in the scope of the right to freedom of expression, the right to effective remedy and the right to a fair trial. Other newspaper officials were acquitted since the author of the news item had been confirmed.

On 28 July, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) unanimously sentenced Turkey upon the complaint of Seyithan Demir. Demir had been tried under charges of "spreading separatist propaganda" on the grounds of his statements "We will establish Kurdistan" and "Special forces and soldiers kill our people and innocent children" made during his military service. Turkey is going to pay a total of € 3,000, € 2,000 in compensation to Demir and € 1,000 to cover court cost. The ECHR pointed out that the first trial lasted from 2000 till 2002 and was conducted "in absence of the defendant" by applying article 8 of the Anti-Terror Law (TMY). The court explained that there was no need for a separate evaluation of the complaint regarding the unlawful restriction of freedom of expression. Demir had applied to the ECHR after he was sentenced to 1 year in jail and a monetary fine. In the meantime, article 8 of the TMY on "separatist propaganda" has been cancelled in the scope of "adjustment" packages related to the EU candidacy process.

Implementations of RTÜK

On 25 September, RTÜK issued a caution fine to the Turkish television channel Kanal D by reason of a program "Telephone Booth" broadcasted on 19 and 26 July. According to RTÜK, "the components of the program were not prepared in line with human dignity and basic human rights". Dr. Zahid Akman opposed the decision saying that "the participants of the program agreed to the adversenesses on their own account". RTÜK member Taha Yücel displayed the same attitude and argued, "If a competitor liable of protecting his or her honour does not oppose to the adverseness, a broadcasting violation has not been constituted".

On 24 September, RTÜK issued a caution fine to Kanal D under allegations of "countering the public's national and moral values and the Turkish family structure" by a program called "I leave my husband to your care". Vahap Darendeli commented the fine: "The program discusses marriages. The female contesters tell their husbands what they do not like about them. The program aims to change images. As part of the format and quality of the program, the critsizm of the husbands voiced by the female contesters is presented in a funny and humorous way. It has also to be considered that the program is broadcasted after 11.00 pm". Prof. Dr. Hasan Tahsin annotated the decision as follows: "The positive behaviour of the people in the program and learning from the program might be of avail".

On 17 September, RTÜK decided to impose a monetary fine on Star TV for "insulting contents" of the discussion between Vakit newspaper journalist Serdar Arseven, Hilal TV news director Muharrem Çoşkun and Cumhuriyet newspaper writers Ümit Zileli and Mehmet Faraç in the "32^nd Day" program presented by Mehmet Ali Birand. The fine was based on allegations of "an attack on the persons' moral integrity". Dr. Mehmet Dadak and N. Hülya Alp voted against the decision. Dadak said, "that broadcasted news and programs should not be focused on for the public benefit". Alp argued, that "it was shown how the the studio guests insulted each other". The studio guests were warned during the program".

On 23 Junly, RTÜK gave a caution fine to CNN Türk based on the programs "360 degrees", "New Day" and "Parametre" broadcasted on 21and 22 May because of an aired argument between Vakit and Cumhuriyet newspaper journalists. RTÜK accused CNN Türk of "an attack on moral integrity" by the broadcastings. N. Hülya Alp voted against the decision, arguing that "discomfort had been expressed when the discussion came to a point beyond control".

On 22 July, RTÜK issued caution fines to  Kanal 24, NTV, TV8, CNN Türk, Kanal Türk, Kanal 7, STV, Samanyolu Haber and Kanal A under charges of "violating the secrecy of personal life" (article 4/f) by broadcasts made on 9, 10 and 11 February. NTV for instance was penalized by reason of a news item concerning a voice record allegedly belonging to Mukaddes Eruygur, wife of Ergenekon case defendant retired General Şener Eruygur, broadcasted on 11 February in the main news. The news representer announced, "Another voice record was added in the context of the Ergenekon case. This time two voice records are attributed to Mukaddes Eruygur, wife of Ergenekon defendant retired General Şener Eruygur. Mukaddes Eruygur allegedly told somebody else that the 12^th and 14^th High Criminal Court were on her side. In the other record she discusses if her husband will be taken into detention after his release from hospital". Reson for the caution fine was the original voice record broadcasted together with the transcript after the newsreader's announcement.

On 7 July, RTÜK imposed a one-time broadcasting ban on NTV's news program "Güne Başlarken" under allegations of "showing a person guilty of a crime before the corresponding court decision was confirmed" according to article 4/k of law no. 3984. The program was broadcasted on 22 Januarty 2009. RTÜK member Şaban Sevinç did not agree with the decision. On the same day, RTÜK imposed an administrative monetary fine to GÜN FM in Diyarbakır for repeatedly "opposing the superirority of law by the broadcast" of Kurdish songs on 23 March 2009. Dr. Zahid Akman and Prof. Dr. Davut Dursun voted against the decision, saying that "The lyrics of the Kurdish song did not include names of any people or organizations".

An administrative monetary fine was handed down to Kanal D for the program "With Esra Ceyhan" broadcasted on 2 and 3 April 2008 for violating the principle determined in article 1 of law no. 3984: "Radio, television and data broadcasts must be made within the concept of public service regarding the superiority of law, the general principles of the constitutions, basic rights and freedoms, security of the state and general ethics". Şaban Sevinç and Taha Yücel opposed the decision.(EÖ/VŞ)

Information: BİA Media Monitoring Board, Tel. (0212) 251 15 03, Fax. (0212) 251 16 09, E-mail. hukuk@bianet.org